[Daphne – Please explain to me how illustrious company is bandied about.]

One only had to think (not so hard, even) to work out the rest of the story, Nicholas.

Like it or not, “hdura” itself IS part of our culture.

Don’t be a sucker, Mr Debono. Trying to redeem ourselves with Lawrence Zammit, are we, now? Do consider the fact that the quiz night in question was held on the 12.04.08, barely one month after the election we so very nearly lost because of several people who were present there. And, as pointed out by Daphne, Mr Zammit himself was responsible for doing the polling for the Nationalist Party, making his presence there a little more incongruous.

They are poor misguided souls and have been suckered in by the fashionable FAA. Well, it’s not flavour of the month anymore. Daphne, who is this Nick anyway? What undercurrents are there against that one particular foundation member? For all his talents and shortcomings, don’t we all have them; he should never have been made the be-all to end-all scapegoat, and anyone who used this project to “get at him ” or “cut him down to size” has done a disservice to this country and is a traitor to its very culture, besides being full of hdura.

[Daphne – And that purpose would be….what? To botch the project by letting Astrid Vella have a field-day? I think it was a failure to read the situation correctly, that’s all, coupled with the St John’s Foundation’s failure to communicate because (1) monsignors aren’t big on speaking to the press, and there are three of them on the foundation board, (2) everyone else was too busy plugging more important dams elsewhere, and (3) nobody asked, and so didn’t get a reply. Astrid Vella wasn’t asking; she was challenging; and when you do that to people, they get defensive and retreat. A cock-up, all the way.]

I saved the petition onto Excel, which is rather easy to sort, etc. By doing so, I was able to come up with the following:

79 people called Anonymous

1 person just called T

7 blank entries (no name/nickname included)

44 duplicate names (88 in all), meaning that 44 of these “signatures” are invalid unless they are of people who just so happen to have the same name

6 triplicate names, meaning that 12 of these “signatures” are possibly invalid too (though, admittedly, they include three “John Gaucis”, which I did not account for as a “Joe Borg” and which I assumed were one and the same person)

That means that out of the 698 signatures, if we remove the above (698 – 79 – 1 – 7 – 44 – 12), we are left with 555 who presumably gave their real name.

Nilaghbuhom lottu?

Nick, I am sorry, whoever was behind the project is not important. If the MPs/FAA/ Labour people wanted to hit out at him by using this project, they did so by hurting the future prospects of this country. [Daphne – Don’t forget the spiteful people like Nick himself, who jumped on the bandwagon because they want to cut somebody down to size. And is it necessary for me to point out that Meinrad Calleja’s extended family were at that quiz night, and show up clearly in the photographs? I’m sure they were absolutely petrified at the imperilment of the cathedral, and rushed to sign that petition and answer quiz questions for that reason. Tas-swat.] This is not right. Much as you or I or anyone else may have feelings for certain persons (and believe me, I have every reason to have) the project was worthy of being carried out. We can’t let petty spite kill initiative. Hdura is not something we should be very proud of. It kills projects, initiatives and ultimately makes a mockery of our supposedly civil way of life.

Malta , like all other democracies, has a myriad of pressure groups: some you love , some you hate , some transparent and honest, others decidedly dodgy. However, their right to exist is an integral and indeed healthy part of any liberal democratic country.

However it is the government who runs the country and it alone chooses whether to take on the advice or simply ignore the opinions of these various groups. By blaming the pressure groups for the St John’s debacle you have made the big spin doctor very happy. I don’t think this is a coincidence.

[Daphne – It is blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes in their head, Nick, that much of the opposition to this project centred not so much on the project as on who was PERCEIVED to be behind it. You seem to be one of those people. Not being typically Maltese, and so not riven with spite, hatred and malice, it doesn’t make any difference in hell to me WHO is behind a project as long as the project – always if valid – gets done and adds value to the country. Unfortunately, I find myself living among people who are delighted to spite the country so as to – or so they think – undermine and spite somebody else. And the majority of this spite and malice, sadly, is among people of my background and, I assume, yours. Which is why when I am forced to socialise among certain sorts, I have to fight the urge to take a couple of hand grenades with me – such unpleasant people, really. Such hodor. You’re sitting pretty in the EU and without Sant as prime minister mainly because of CERTAIN PEOPLE, but you forget that, don’t you? I particularly resent your last (also spiteful, and stupid) sentence. I am possibly the least malleable person in the country. In fact, I make my living from it. So you can take your opinion and stuff it up your backside. I mean it. You and others at the ‘quiz night’.]