For such a small place, Malta seems to get so many foreign lone-wolf attentions even over strictly local issues, which is fascinating. Malta's ancient and modern history is replete with that. Has anyone ever had the international media referring so widely and frequently as it does in the case of Malta with regard to other, some much bigger, islands in the Mediterranean?

Most Med islands are either strictly holiday resorts that have absolutely no political life, let alone a proper history. If they have a shred of it, it is because of time-honoured and stereotyped issues such as the Mafia, countryside bandits, and, in recent years, illegal immigration.

What makes Malta special, rivalled only by a Cyprus sadly handicapped by Turkish occupation of half its territory, is that it has always managed to combine its natural beauty with everyday life with a highly politicised and industrious people. With no natural resources and extremely hard territorial restrictions, Malta has, over the centuries, still managed to carve out a living for her people. In war and in peace, the Maltese have shown they can offer a service that is often the best while still retaining an indigenous culture.

The Romans, the Carthaginians, the Arabs, the princely states, the Knights, the French and the British have all gone down in the history books as having to first contend with the islanders' resolute stance on maintaining a living before making their mark. That same obsessively positive attitude has been shown by Maltese communities in North Africa, the United States, the UK, Canada, and particularly Australia, where not even the harsh conditions of the sugar beet plantations could dampen their spirit of enterprise and perseverance.

So, yes, while there has been overall appreciation as well as fascination shown by historians and military leaders, we also got and still get the odd envious character that persists in launching lone-wolf attacks on this particular Maltese trait. What had once led one former colonial Governor to exclaim that he would rather have been entrusted with running the subcontinent of India than the tiny island of Malta in those unhappy days of British Empire is today the reason why individual political harassment of an island-state persists. Malta has done nothing wrong except wanting to offer its citizens a better life full of opportunities, as we have after all experienced throughout history but in a much more tangible manner since obtaining (without bloodshed, because we tend to use our brain cells) political independence 53 years ago.

During times of change especially, it seems to be inevitable that we get these foreign "gurus" trying to interpret things in contrast to our inbred prowess and survival instinct. Many like me must remember the Braithwaite controversy during the late 70s when this out-of-the-blue, Caribbean economist wanted to lecture, with the help of a local dingo, Dom Mintoff and his finance ministers, on the then prevailing economic situation.

Then in the 80s we had German Messerschmitts and Italian balillas coming over to talk colourfully about democracy. In the end it was the down-to-earth raison d'être of the Maltese themselves, Nationalists and Labourites, who brought the then volatile situation to an end with a historic agreement that is still being enjoyed and exploited to the full at every general election.

Now we have this bombastic German MEP, Werner Langen, lambasting - in explicit Sieg Heil terms - our corporate tax system. A few days ago, he called it "unfair". Why? Because Malta can afford, unlike some other EU member states, to offer better and competitive tax rates to foreign investors. It is why we currently have the third lowest unemployment rate in the EU and why there has been such a remarkable economic growth in the last four years, previous positive, albeit less impressive, results notwithstanding, under the same financial regime that goes by EU rules.

Shouldn't EU member states be competing on how to establish lower tax rates to citizens and investors alike rather than seeking to make odious comparisons and interfering with national governments' long-declared prerogative on such pocket-and-job-concerning issues?

Such Sieg Heil tactics cannot but be condemned, especially when coming from someone who hails from a country where a top car manufacturer, let alone the German bankers who, over the decades, strangulated the Greek economy, was caught infringing environmental rules to the detriment of human health everywhere in the world.

Langen has promised to persist with his anti-Malta campaign, but it is the wolves in sheep's clothing that are whispering in his ears who should be rethinking their lines. Their shadow hangs tall and obtrusive. Is it any wonder they have since found that the people back home would prefer they played a different game, one that would have cost their party a lot less votes in the general election of a mere month ago?

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Long-drawn contention

It is more than 72 years since the Second World War ended, but its social and political legacy is still incredibly alive. There are issues of geopolitical, economic, territorial, demographic and historical relevance, but also several long-drawn contentions that seem to endure in either hibernation or temporary resurgence. One of them is compensation for losses sustained in that war.

A prominent Polish politician, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, recently declared that Poland has a "moral right" to seek such compensation, assumedly from, sorry Herr Langen, either the Germans or the EU.

Well, in our case I would be more than happy if we can have a proper replacement for the old Opera House in Valletta, destroyed, sorry Herr Langen, by a German bomb on 7 April, 1942. Piano's construction site replica is a scar our capital city cannot suffer anymore.

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Furniture polish

As the PN armchair told the cupboard: you are only part of the PL furniture. Some chairs applauded, other chairs booed. The tables watched dumbfounded and the wardrobes grumbled they just could not understand the fuss being made over a single big nail that had rightly been hammered into the RTK box.

One could just have said: the pot calling the kettle black. Priestly black...