Let’s hide the majestic bastions

I believed it to be self-evident that, if a nation has something really precious to boast of, it would want its treasures seen, and seen to their best advantage. I believed that the people would do their utmost to enhance the visibility of anything inestimable. Yes, but that’s elsewhere. Nature and history have been prodigal with our island, a generosity we may or may not have always deserved. The jewels of the crown? The Neolithic temples, the baroque extravaganza and the fortifications. I am not ranking these bounties in any particular order. The temples are unique, the baroque ravishing, the system of fortifications of Malta probably the mightiest anywhere. Allow me to repeat: nowhere in the world are fortifications more extensive, more impressive, more outstanding than they are in Malta. The Great Wall of China, maybe? No jingoism here, this is not faux provincialism. No other country has a system of antique ramparts and forts that compares in any way to what Malta should be proud of. They ought to be our glory; to some extent, they are our shame. Over the past two centuries many conspired to debase them. Major-General Henry Pigot had actually accepted that the majority of...