Front Harsien ODZ is composed of environmental groups. It never shied away from declaring its purely environmental agenda, and in so doing it came across as genuinely motivated.

It is concerned solely about the development of what little land remains unbuilt, as opposed to using what is already developed and preserving the countryside.

The Front itself managed to bring together people from all walks of life and political allegiance.

Its message came out loud and clear, and government was forced to listen.

The new proposal is still not acceptable, but on a scale of 1 to 10 against it went from a 10 to a 9. Still an improvement, and a victory of sorts for the Front.

Falzon should instead have directed his criticism squarely at the Opposition. The message the Opposition should have drummed incessantly from the outset, and which it should be drumming right now, is how private interests are being served by the prime minister against all accepted practices of good governance.

In this scenario, no amount of downsizing can make the proposal palatable.

The ODZ land bit was a distraction that caused the opposition to lose focus, and ultimately it worked in the government’s favour.

In this issue, in my opinion, as in the passports for cash scheme and the spring hunting referendum, the opposition has come out as spineless.

This is very similar to Mintoff’s failure to squeeze more money from the British for the military base. When they told him to shove it up his backside he went for the old “helsien” trick.

Birds of a feather. The prime minister lost out on his promise to the camel trader for a large plot of pristine land and he has now dubbed the change of plan and the destruction of a national pool as a gift to the people of Bormla.

What a twat.

Drastic measures need to be taken if we need to be taken seriously.

I know it might sound old-fashioned but people need to literally camp on these sites when works are about to start, as only that way will the government of Malta listen to the people.