The last word

I.M. Beck seems never to give up and he wants to be on the winning side. He has an advantage over other contributors because he has his weekly homily in The Times and he can write and criticise in as many ways as he wishes. He immediately replied again to my letter, regarding boring Chelsea. I say to him again. It is the British media who labelled Chelsea boring and not me.

He compared me with racist bigots and this is intolerable. It seems that this is the only word he knows how to use to describe these people. I have never shown any hatred towards these immigrants. The concern of the Maltese people, unlike his, is the loss of identity of our culture and the danger they pose to our community if thousands of these people integrate in our society.

When in the past a very few genuine refugees were given rights to live among us, nobody complained, but having thousands is a different story. I am saying this because there seems to be no solution to stop this influx and it also seems that now they are here to stay. Just look at what is happening in France. Is this what I.M. Beck and other bigots like him want? Yes that is right - Beck is another bigot, to describe him in his own words.

Having said all this I now refer to my letter to which he replied on Saturday, November 5. He still has not answered my question, and I repeat for the benefit of readers. What will Beck's critics be when the influx of these immigrants reaches the alarming figure of 10,000 or double that? Surely the immigrants cannot be left locked up. What will happen when such an amount are let free among the locals?

Finally, Beck can reply in a thousand words and describe me again in any which way he chooses. This is the last time I will refer to I.M. Beck regarding illegal immigrants. If he wishes to have the last say, so be it.