A former manager at Malta Drydocks is insisting elsewhere in the media that then Prime Minister Dom Mintoff told dockyard workers they had no balls. The man is either perpetuating the spin which the Nationalist Party put to the quote, or is suffering from memory loss. Whatever the case, what he is saying is exactly the opposite of what Mr Mintoff said.

What Mr Mintoff did was to refer to the French ship repair and shipbuilding industry, and say that in France the industry was profitable. He told Malta Drydocks workers that they, like their French counterparts, had their boċċi tal-laħam, (literally translated: marbles of flesh) so why could they not be profitable as well.

The PN spin turned that on its head, and said Mr Mintoff had told the Maltese dock workers they had no balls. And the PN and its faithful media, and people like this former manager, kept repeating that spin. Tell a lie often enough, and it will be believed, is the PN dictum. Surely responsible newspapers should not repeat obvious lies?

The manager’s imagination also added a dash of colour to his story, and referred to people being beaten up for booing. There was some booing, but that was not done in reference to the boċċi tal-laħam quote. It came when Mr Mintoff announced new work conditions for the ship repair yard, which the workforce was not happy with.

It is beyond me how anyone can believe that a political leader would insult his followers in such a manner, and expect to be respected for it. Mr Mintoff is often derided for calling his followers “soldiers of steel”, are we now to accept he believed that these “soldiers of steel” had no balls?

One other point: if this former manager really believes that the quote he attributes to Mr Mintoff is correct, I am not surprised at the parlous state of the then Malta Drydocks. It seems this former manager does not understand plain, spoken Maltese. Why, you could go to this man, order a luzzu, and get a kajjik instead.

Roger Mifsud

Rabat