Towards the end of last year, Mark Laurence Zammit published an article in this newspaper based on a survey stating that Malta was the angriest nation in Europe. It was a well-researched piece with facts fully checked as befits such an accomplished journalist.

However, while not taking issue with the article, I would like to submit that the question in the survey was wrong. We are not angry. We are scared… and worried.

What are we worried about? Well, I give you the Six Fs.

Let’s start with an easy one, “Festas”. We love them or we loathe them. Many of us detest the incessant banging every hour on the hour, building up to a fireworks display, the cost of which would feed some needy families for years.

Then there are those that plead, “It is our heritage. Our tradition”, and knock on doors throughout the year for a few cents every week to cover the costs. They’ll be there, introducing the bands and supervising the fireworks on the big night.

Ah, what about you, I hear you ask. I am “Minglish”. That is to say, British born but with Maltese blood coursing through my veins for I love these islands as my own.

Well, unsurprisingly I absolutely detest festas… unless it is in my own village. I love waking up to “my” festa. The build-up in the weeks before, the young men and women giving up their time to decorate our streets and on the weekend itself to stroll proudly through my square shaking hands and greeting my friends and neighbours.

What’s the next “F” we are worried about? “Finances”, of course. Money. Do we have enough? How will we cope in a crisis?

Well, there is a fine line in our nation between having enough… and avarice, not cited as one of the seven deadly sins but often quoted in the Bible.

It is the greed and lust for money and material goods.

We see it all around us and we are tempted to follow suit. After all, one can never have enough money. Whatever we have, we are still worried it is not enough.

And, of course, we all know a couple of what I refer to as “peasant millionaires”.

Those who own many properties and rake in thousands in rent yet live like paupers, in semi-squalid homes, surviving on ftira with tomato paste. Yes, they are worried, too.

Next up it’s “Football”, of course. We all know the colleague whose face will look like a burst football all week if Man. Utd/Liverpool/Juve don’t win at the weekend.

One can never have enough money. Whatever we have, we are still worried it is not enough- Tom Welch

They worry so much… and can’t resist unburdening their fears and worries on you. The manager. The team. The referee.

Number four just has to be “Family”. Our country is admired for our culture of family life.

Multi-generational families are seen every Sunday, breaking bread together at a family home or treating themselves at a local restaurant.

Older relatives are respected and woe betide any youngster who won’t do his grandfather’s bidding.

Wonderful but, again, we worry. Broken relationships, children pulled from pillar to post, new partners introduced to the family and more children to more parents… yes, we worry and we’re scared.

“Food.” That’s the next F. We eat too much of the wrong things. Yes, we’re busy and on the go, so it’s easy to pick up a few pastizzi. Yes, we see the posters about healthy eating but, hey, there’s so much going on in my life I don’t have time for that.

But, in our hearts, we know that the Mediterranean diet is the envy of the world… rich in fish, local vegetables, some dairy, while throwing in a bit of moderate exercise for good measure.

Yup, we know we eat badly and we’re scared. But we keep doing it.

Now, hold tight for the final “F”. It is for foreigners. Twenty per cent of our population was born outside Malta. Twenty per cent. One in five of us. 120,000 people.

Again, many are scared and worried. Way, way ahead of Germany, a nation that encouraged immigration with 13 per cent.

That said, their immigrant population is 10.6 million.

We lead, along with the Scandinavian countries, with our 20 per cent. They seem to be prospering, so why are we so worried?

We know what it is, of course. Skin colour. Muslims. Yes, this final “F” is a huge one for us. So many of the indigenous population are racist. Or, as a friend of mine says, “I’m a bit racist”. Like it or not, that is Malta.

If the people coming to our shores in the rubber boats were Australian or Canadian, it would be Dunkirk all over again as we’d wade out to haul them in to safety.

Tom Welch is a former UK regional newspaper publisher living on Gozo.