Letters to the editor – January 27, 2026

Overcrowded buses

Christopher Walker of Co. Monaghan, Republic Of Ireland writes:

I have been a visitor to Malta over the past number of years.

In 2025, I came for Christmas and the Near Year, spending 14 nights in such a beautiful country. I bought two seven-day bus passes and used them every day I was there. The overcrowding on the public buses was horrendous.

I am an elderly gentleman, so was hoping to be able to sit during by trips from one town to another. Sadly, this did not happen for 90% of the journeys I took.

Buses packed to the brim. Photos: Neville Borg

For the most part, I stood in very overcrowded conditions, On a few occasions – I would say less than 10 – did somebody offer me a seat in the party reserved for the elderly, where youngsters sat, wearing headphones, oblivious to what was going on around them.

To add to the fact that the buses were so overcrowded, with about 25 to 30 people standing, additional passengers were boarding the bus from the middle exit doors, adding to the overcrowding.

Does Malta not limit the number of standing passengers allowed on public buses?

It has not put me off returning to the island but it would be nice if a more comfortable bus experience could be had.

Drooling politicians

Victor Formosa of Mosta writes:

You have to be a trump, no pun intended, to accept a reward that someone else was given. And this is not just a medal you can buy from a junk store. This is the Nobel Peace Prize, meritoriously awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader in exile, María Corina Machado for 2025. Although this was not a first, even though Nobel prizes are supposedly not transferable, this is, to my mind, a totally different story.

Everyone knows that, as is happening now with Greenland, even though the inhabitants insist their country is not for sale, megalomaniac Donald Trump expected the Nobel Peace Prize by hook or by crook and he got it by crook. Shame for Machado for kneeling to the king. I haven’t seen, perhaps I missed out, any statement from the Nobel Prize committee condemning this award transfer.

It is safe to say that what Trump wants, Trump gets. And, as repeatedly said to his now dwindling MAGA support in this his second term in office, more is yet to come.

Lackey politicians around the world, including our own, will live to regret not doing anything about it except drooling.