Can you really be more insensitive than to react to an E.U. survey which found that 61% of Maltese and Gozitans had difficulty paying bills by saying this is down to perception?

It's almost unbelievable, but PM Gonzi is reported as saying that while he regrets it he acknowledges the perception.It is emphatically not a perception but a reality faced by all those who don't have the cushion of drivers, phone bills paid, planes at one's disposal and more.

A Prime Minister of the people would have said, as Jospeh Muscat always does, that yes the reality is that on an ordinary Maltese wage or pension or benefits, whether you are s student, single a couple alone, or bringing up a family, keeping up is very difficult indeed.

Some people do waste money of course on gambling or alcohol or whatever their drug of choice is, but prices are today sky high for basic essentials like medicines, rent and fuel bills.This is reality not perception. That can be seen by all, even those who can afford to keep up. Whoever cant or won't see it needs glasses.

This is the reality faced by no less than 61% of Maltese who know what they are seeing and experiencing every day. Whoever is advising Dr. Gonzi should think again about his or her strategy in this regard.

This all smacks of DR DCGossip and her logic,who we referred to in another feature where in The Sunday Independent two Sundays ago she proferred her magic wand on some pharmacies overcharging.No worries she said on the subject of exorbitant prices for certain medicines.

Competition solves all. Let people consume less medicine.

Surely Dr. DCGossip doesn't have a hot line to Castille? If so that line of logic and thinking should be cut off pretty quick.