I have been harping on this issue for a long time now and the recent silent agreement between the two sides on Malta's defence, even if surrounded as usual by a thousand insults and accusations, emboldens me to persevere.

The defence of this small island is too precious to be left to the sole direction of either.

They will not like what I will be saying but those who do not have an axe to grind will in time understand that I am right.

I will be speaking solely on defence. Other, bigger, countries might also speak about attack but that doesn't feature in what I will be saying.

We are too small. And without defences. Let those who brought us to this situation be eventually judged by the people.

The recent theft of drugs from an army base where they were stupidly kept has shown the entire country how shaky our defence can be.

But even more than that is the precarious state of the different components of our national defence - the air force with its problem helicopters, the navy with its non-functional RHIBs, the army where discipline leaves so much to be desired.

We have been hearing that the countryside is full of fields where rusting and discarded surplus has been left, instead of being properly disposed of.

The first thing that must be done is thus a general clean-up.

Then the stocks must be replenished - tenders must be issued and procured in an open and transparent manner.

We will still be in bow-and-arrow era. Rigorous training must be enforced on all. Those who feel they are not up to this must be helped to leave.

This will open the door to wider recruitment and there are, I'm sure, many who would want to join.

For this to succeed there must be better wages and more opportunities for the recruitment of both men and women. And more fairness all around. We must learn from other countries and perhaps get help in this.

There were times in our past when commanders were 'lent' from other uniformed units to bring in discipline and order. Perhaps the time has come to try this again.

At an intermediate stage NCOs can be sent abroad on training courses.

But if the soldiers have been wrongly selected in the first place, there is little that can be done.

I said that we are still at bow-and-arrow stage. We must upgrade both as regards hardware and as regards software.

Here is where I find that the recent Neutrality in the Constitution debate has been barking up the wrong tree. Our immediate concern is defending ourselves, certainly not attacking anyone.

But even so, we must greatly improve our defence. What about our radar coverage, for starters?

And then drones. As a people we still see them as playthings, not as useful tools of defence as the rest of the world has come to see them.

In our case, even the development of a drone system to carry medicines from Malta to Gozo announced with so much hype seems to have sunk without trace.

Other people, Ukraine and Israel come to mind, but other countries too are fast learning. They are finding the benefits of home industries. Through this, instead of relying on the US Europe and thus we can develop entire systems.

We have the brains, we continually prove this. It's the opportunities we lack, and the encouragement.

For all that the well-intentioned say it is in times of stress that man learns resilience and develops skills.

There is much that has had to be left unsaid in today's article. I say this again; the defence of our small island is too precious to be left in the hands of the politicians alone.

I really, really hope that events will not prove me right.

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