I wonder if in the build up to the celebration of Valletta 2018 a thought has been spared to commemorate the workmen who had built the city for us.

A quote from Whitworth Porter’s book A History of the Knights of Malta’, volume, 2, page 276, suffices to illustrate what I mean by the above:

“The ramparts of that city have been reared amidst the anguish and toil of countless thousands, torn from their homes and their country, and condemned to drag out the remainder of their miserable existence as mere beasts of burden, labouring to rear those bulwarks which were to be employed against themselves and their country.”