In all fairness, some door bells are inaudible from the outside, so the postman wouldn’t know the bell isn’t working.

[Daphne – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082934/ ]

[Daphne – I delete brazen insults, Chavs, on the same principle that I will not allow people to insult me in my own home. There’s a Maltese saying involving crapping in hands and wiping on faces. If you wish to insult me, go elsewhere. There are plenty who will be more than happy to take you and to join in. I am not responsible for your appalling manners and I do not have to contend with them. I am not your mother, who is almost certainly the one to blame for your poor behaviour and your chips. And I am not concerned with image, self or otherwise. If you had the merest bit of intelligence you would have picked that up long ago. The people who are concerned with image are those who need to put up a false front, even to themselves, or reinvent themselves.]

[Carmel Scicluna – By the way, I can’t understand why Maltese people find it disturbing that a God-fearing man like me really enjoys atheist and lapsed Catholic authors, artists and journalists].

I can’t speak for all Maltese people, but atheists usually don’t find that disturbing at all. On the opposite end, atheists are known (through surveys) to be the most knowledged on the Bible. So what you say is hardly surprising, let alone disturbing.

ghandu/Ha

Not only that. You are the best journalist in Malta. Nobody surpasses you. Maybe that’s why I am addicted to your blog. By the way, I can’t understand why Maltese people find it disturbing that a God-fearing man like me really enjoys atheist and lapsed Catholic authors, artists and journalists.

Recte floreat is Gzira’s motto: does it mean “flowering rectum”?

I can’t help it but I am jealous at the way you write. Your last article was tops. I didn’t know that most articles are still accessible on http://www.independent.com.mt.

You have a brilliant way of describing sometimes horrifying facts with a large dose of humour. The way you master the language is wonderful. I don’t know if I am saying something which has already been decided, I suggest that you compile all your articles and publish them.

I would want to be the first to get a copy. Sadly a lot of things you relate are not funny at all, considering the way they can seriously affect our lives.

But on the whole I look forward to reading your articles because they are not only entertaining but alive with facts and I believe it has a great impact on those who seek reality.

Thanks for the good work.

Wrong – the correct spelling is “l-ostja”.

Not at all. If you think that, you haven’t understood anything.

Though I disagree, often strongly with most of what you say, I would defend your right to say it with my life (metaphorically, of course)

What I despise is the fact that you invariably choose the most spiteful and hurtful way of saying it.

[Daphne – I’m sharp, Chavs, something alien to Maltese culture, which is why it is often confused with spite. People who know me will tell you that I couldn’t possibly be less spiteful while having to contend with all manner of spite directed towards me on a daily basis, in public and private, to which I almost never retaliate. As for hurtful – well, tough. Those who can’t stand the heat should get out of the proverbial, grow a thick skin and just stop whining. If you want the niceness of hypocrisy, look elsewhere.]

I think you have single-handedly raised the “hate factor” in Maltese politics by a factor of 10.

[Daphne – Hardly, Chavs. You should have been around in the 1980s. It was hell. Things are lovely now. If you mean I’ve raised the hate factor because people who vote for your party hate me, blame them not me. They’re the ones with screwed-up emotions (hence the choice of party).]