Unfortunately that is what we have become, a country were it is OK to break the law, whatever that law may be. As an example I invite anyone to go down to Paceville on a Saturday night and check whether the law regarding smoking in public places is observed. I could mention another one hundred and one instances but I`ll just stop here.

Jomar, as I said, Canada changed its flag on its own. Canada was independent before the repatriation of the BNA. That was only an insignificant formality and meant nothing to Canadians. I feel you’re a bit cross-legged here.

STOP PRESS:
For those who might be – ahem chrrrm – interested, some scholars posit the survival of pre-Arab conquest traits in the Maltese language (pre-Hilal, from the Arabic “hilal”=crescent moon).

Here’s the reference:
Martine VANHOVE
(C.N.R.S. (LLACAN, Meudon)), 1998:
“De quelques traits préhilaliens en maltais”, in Aguade, J., Cressier, P. y Vicente, A. (eds.), Peuplement et Arabisation au Maghreb Occidental (Dialectologie et Histoire). Madrid – Zaragoza: Casa Velazquez – Universidad de Zaragoza, 97-108.

The author states, in a nutshell, that the Maltese language developed in isolation from the other Arabic dialects, and it has preserved some of the characteristics of North African speech from before the Muslim conquest. Note that this is not the same as the fanciful “Punic” origins attributed to Maltese by some authors. Fascinating bedtime reading, what, Daphne. You should publish a special issue of Taste on medieval Malta. If it’s recipes you want, I’ll provide them.

[Daphne – There are plenty of scholarly texts on medieval Malta. The trouble is that few people read them, so the rest are stuck with the myths they learned in Gateway to our Nation’s History (a choice of book-title which says a lot in its use of the word ‘nation’).

Both wrong I’m afraid.

Canada changed its flag because it could since it enjoyed the status of a ‘Dominion’ or the equivalent of a State, however since the Queen was (and still is) its head of state, the term Dominion was used. Canada’s form of Independence came in 1982 when an amended British North America Act was repatriated.

Malta never enjoyed the status of Dominion and was administered through the British Colonial Office. Canada was not administered by the Colonial Office in the periods under discussion.

Insomma, mela int Malti ta’ Londra …

The George Cross is part of us, a piece of that fantastic jigsaw puzzle that is Malta. If we had to start removing what is “foreign”, then where would we draw the line?

Don’t think this guy’s elevator goes all the way to the top. Appears to revel in self-ridicule.

grazzi…grazzi tat tbissima li pogejtli fuq wicci! hehe!