Mintoff biography
Richard Matrenza has beat me to it in lauding Fr Mark Montebello’s Dom Mintoff biography as a masterpiece (July 18).
As an avid Melitensia enthusiast and collector, I have read most, if not all the biographies of Maltese political personalities published to date.
I find this publication tops the lot in general content, style, historical research and accuracy as well as pleasant readability.
It has been written as an intelligent very independent labour of love, not love of Labour, pardon the pun.
Some passages are ‘desperately honest’ and it is understandable that some would have preferred that certain details were never included. This happens, more often than not, with the majority of biographies worldwide. Truth, especially when set to paper, is the most delicate matter to present.
Saving Gozo
I fully agree with Fr Charles Cini that the beautiful island of Gozo is being vandalised by the greedy developers (June 4).
How could the authorit
The last book I read was The power of silence: against the tyranny of noise, by Cardinal Robert Sarah. He states that “Silence speaks more than words! Sil
Wake-up call
I refer to the editorial ‘Malta’s war on nature’ (April 16)and Madeleine Gera’s letter (April 17).
Our incessant ‘development’ and its attendant pollution from dust and concrete – itself a disastrously polluting material – not to mention the particulates clogging our air from traffic, is short-sighted and idiotic.
Readers may be interested in a paper from the Annals of the American Thoracic Society – ‘COVID-19 pandemic, a wake-up call for clean air’.
It is ironic that while, on one hand, we may be risking public health and economic recovery by courting the vital tourist dollar, we then proceed to kill the goose laying the golden egg by uglifying everything and destroying assets such as Ġgantija.
“Though small, Gozo, in my opinion, has many individual and singular characteristics and monuments worthy to be known and never forgotten.” These are the words written in the 18th century by Canon Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius De Soldanis (1712 – 1770).
Although small, our island of Gozo is gorgeous, charming and stunning. People who come from abroad to visit our island for the first time remain fascinated and enchanted by the beauty and the uniqueness of this small island! The geological features, simplicity and harmony of this small island are indeed awesome and unrivalled.
Gozo’s rich history, its monuments, its superb churches, the small quaint houses, the fertile valleys, the round hills, the rubble walls in our colourful countryside are our treasures. The Gozitans’ simple way of life is especially appealing to the visitors. We Gozitans are proud of this simplicity, harmony and our quiet life. We need ‘to fight’ so as to preserve these qualities!