We aren’t weak. We tend to be more negative towards ourselves

Besides I always thought H. P. Baxxter must be much older than me.

[Daphne – He isn’t. He’s really quite young.]

Yes it must have been many ages ago that I graduated. In fact I remenber meeting de (la) Valette in Valletta.

The figures are these:

Private car ownership in Malta, per 1000 inhabitants:

1970: 204
2002: 504

The argument wasn’t about enjoying football in thirty years ago, but about street celebrations, car-cading and the level of obsession.

Don’t we all.

Woah, Baxxter, that escalated quickly. If you do not know of anyone who had a car in the 80s, then I’m afraid we come from very different backgrounds.

I know of many people who did, and who, as it happens, would definitely have watched most games of World Cup 82, as it served as a most-welcome break from the shitty political circumstances of the time.

Italy winning the World Cup in 1982 gave many people something to cheer about (however trivial in comparison to the election of 1987), at a time when there was precious little else to be happy about.

It doesn’t take much to enjoy some World Cup football, seeing that RAI used to show all the important games. Even if you didn’t have a TV at home, you could have always gone to the pub.

As for my complexion, I’m afraid my spots have long gone. I needn’t be an ignorant sub-literate to have been born in 1990. Yes, you do sound very patronising – I thought you were better than that. The language was also very uncalled for and not the sort I expected from someone whose comments are usually witty and make sense.

Daphne, regarding your question as to people’s grasp of Italian as opposed to English, I suspect it’s because of the availability of free Italian TV channels. Maltese people who couldn’t afford cable would tend to get their fix from italian TV shows, and thus grew up comfortable with the language.

Wow… Sounds like HP Baxxter needs to get laid.

Gibraltar is an overseas territory of the UK. Wasn’t pre-independence Malta in a similar situation to Gibraltar?

[Daphne – David, I am sorely tempted to use capital letters, but I know you are genuinely perturbed so I shall be patient. Neither Gibraltar nor Malta were ever part of the United Kingdom. Gibraltar still isn’t. Both were part of the British empire. The United Kingdom is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Gibraltar is today a British Overseas Territory. Before Malta achieved independence, it was not a British Overseas territory as that is a post-independence description. It was a colony or ‘Crown colony’. British Overseas Territory is a relatively newish class (in historical terms) used for those countries which did not acquire independence in the period of decolonisation following World War II.]

Iz-Zanzi is travelling to Malta from Soho and he wants a quiet holiday. Malta, kindly take note.

[Daphne – Soho is actually extremely peaceful and civilised, despite the surrounding activities. If you’re thinking ‘Paceville with bells on’, you’re sorely mistaken.]

I am shocked.

I had him down as an undergrad in his late teens or early twenties.