The George Cross

Daphne Caruana Galizia responds to those who suggest removing the George Cross from the Maltese flag:

..Madam, the George Cross is not the symbol of “King George of England”. It is the symbol of an award which takes the concrete form of a citation and a real cross, and which is named after the sovereign who created it, King George VI, to acknowledge “acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger”. Though he has long since died – 54 years ago, and not “about 60” – the George Cross is still awarded. It was awarded only a few years ago to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and the extensive newspaper coverage of this in the national newspapers of Britain pointed out that the only other time the George Cross was awarded collectively, rather than to an individual, was to the people of Malta. The man from L-Iklin needs to have it pointed out to him that the George Cross is not a “reminder of a foreign king, a foreign country and a foreign person”, but a reminder that we were once, if not now, brave, stalwart and heroic. We need all such reminders that we can get...