This entire Valletta degeneration project, sorry regeneration project, easily confused given the circumstances, is beginning to look like the straw that finally breaks the back of GonziPN. It would also be interesting to know what Renzo Piano thinks about all the negative comments. Does he really want his name associated with something that is already hated by 80 per cent of the population?

Given the amount of negativity towards this project I think the rally on March 13 could be one of the biggest ever. I wish I could be there to see it. It is the older Maltese residents that I feel most sorry for because they have waited the longest to have the beautiful opera house they remember reinstated to it’s former glory. I can’t understand why it has taken so long for a Government to actually do something regarding this but neither can I understand the feasibility of a theatre without a roof.

I think about the Grand Opera house in Belfast which was damaged and rebuilt more times than I can remember during the IRA’s bombing campaign. It was unfortunate enough to be situated just across the road from the Europa Hotel, the most bombed hotel in Europe. Each time it was damaged by bombs, the craftsmen rolled up their sleeves and put it back together, better than before. It now operates continuously hosting some of the world’s top ballet and theatre companies.

When people elect a Government they deserve a Government which abides by the majority wishes of its people. What they certainly don’t deserve is a Government, which continues to support the destruction of what environment the country has left. They don’t deserve a Government which brushes aside the wishes of their voters to build roofless theatres, unnecessary new Parliament buildings and understated entrance gates. And the very least they do deserve is a Prime Minister who has the guts to make decisions, not one who passes the future of an important development like this to a foreigner. As the saying goes, ‘Only in Malta’.

James A. Tyrrell

N. Ireland