Fr Peter Serracino Inglott’s latest contribution (The Sunday Times, October 3) betrays a peculiar insight into his mental make-up.

I am referring to his throwaway remark that the kind of postgraduate training that our young nurses and doctors are currently pursuing appears to be modelled on British lines whereby University participation is excluded and responsibility solely devolves on professional associations, thus “carrying copy-catting British whimsicality to a degree that is ludicrous…”.

This appraisal on the part of the former rector of our University is more than ridiculous; it is incorrect. Universities in England, like London, Liverpool and Leeds, provide for postgraduate medical training and give master’s degrees and doctorates in medical specialities such as general and orthopaedic surgery. Our own University thoroughly participates in the structuring and supervision of such courses for our own medical and nursing personnel, with the added precious co-operation of the professional associations.

Whimsicality does not come into it, British or otherwise, and the only whim that I can possibly sniff is that of Fr Peter and his penchant for having a dig at things British. I suspect that had he had his way in 1996, our teaching hospital, Mater Dei, would have borne a different name and been run by foreign nationals based in Milan.

That would have been a proper hang-up “carry over from colonial times”.