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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2017 26 Letters Financial intermediaries this week took umbrage at a letter by HSBC chief executive Shaun Wallis which they said attempted to lure investment clients away from brokers and to the bank. The letter, sent to investors who were not allocated the entire amount they wanted to invest in HSBC's oversub- scribed Lm25 million bond issue, informed subscribers they would soon be contacted by the bank 's wealth management branch on investment op- portunities for the extra money which was being refunded. Brokers who spoke to MaltaToday said it was "incorrect" and "unethical " behaviour. "It is not correct to ask us to get our clients to subscribe to their bonds, and then use that opportunit y to know who has money to invest and entice them to invest in their products," one broker said. Complaints were lodged by various intermediaries with the financial ser- vices authorit y (MFSA) and HSBC. The MFSA said it had discussed the matter with the interested parties. "It is satisfied that the issue has been resolved in the best manner possible." HSBC declined to comment, calling the matter a "misunderstanding that had been settled ". With a heavily oversubscribed bond issue, HSBC accepted applications of Lm3,000 in full, while the remaining amount was scaled down to 36.45 per cent. Refunds were credited directly to bank accounts. But it was also a good opportunit y for the bank to know which of the clients had money ready to invest, a move various financial sources said was " bordering on unfair competition", for using privileged information on invest- ment brokers' clients. Other investors told MaltaToday they were also contacted by Bank of Valletta, af ter HSBC deposited their refunds in their BOV accounts, in an attempt by the other bank to entice willing investors. With resentment still persisting among stockbrokers over banks having been granted a stockbrokers' licence, Shaun Wallis's letter was seen to be an attempt to cash in on investors with high deposits and lure them to part with their cash. News – 12 February 2007 Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Brexit will prove a costly mistake Jesus and Paul It was kind of Alex Bennett to read my article 'Democracy and Brexit' (MaltaToday, 29 January, 2017), and to bother to comment. He may not have read it carefully, however, as I did not suggest that Britain was heading for the Fas- cism of the 1930s, only that the wave of populism which won the Brexit vote bore many similarities to the rise of Fascism in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Over the last decade I have built up an extensive library of books about the Second World War and the rise of Fascism. In fact my intense interest in the subject led me to write a historical novel, Lost Generations, which is about the consequences of European politics between the two World Wars: Over 100 million casual- ties, and the Holocaust. It reflects the senselessness of such carnage and devastation. This research has led me to conclude that the only legitimate definition of democracy is as a system of government which takes care of the interests of ALL the people. The 52% of voters who carried the Brexit Referen- dum voted for various reasons. There is no doubt that many were misled by false statistics, and fired up with xenophobia and the great lie, which no reasonable person now denies, regarding the €350 million a week for the NHS. Most Brexiteers did not know what they were voting for. The slogan "Brexit means Brexit" is meaningless nonsense. Thanks to the courts, parliament is now back in charge to ensure that the people are given the opportunity to know where Brexit may, in reality, lead. I feel I should mention that any number of trade deals with distant countries cannot come anywhere near the total amount of trade generated by the neigh- bouring free market that is the EU. Brexit will prove to have been a terrible mistake. It is my belief that the EU is in good shape, united, and making good pro- gress, economically, socially, and financially. Our Maltese econo- my, like the British economy, has never been stronger thanks to our membership in the EU. Peter Apap Bologna Sliema Oscar Wilde quipped that the chief argument against Chris- tianity was the style of St Paul. He should have also added Paul's teachings. Jesus thought of himself pure- ly as a Jew, sharing the ideas of the prophets, continuing their work, preaching like them only to the Jews and instructing his disciples to spread his gospel only to Jewish cities. Jesus told them "go not into the way of the gentiles". He pointed out to the Samaritan woman that "Salva- tion is of the Jews." Paul ignored Jesus's injunction and went "into the way of the gentiles". Will Durant wrote in Caesar and Christ: "Paul created a theology of which none but the vaguest warrants can be found in the words of Jesus. Egypt, Asia Minor, and Hellas had long since believed in gods – Osiris, Attis, Dionysus – who had died to redeem mankind. Paul added to this popular and consol- ing theology certain mystic concepts already made current by the Book of Wisdom and the philosophy of Philo. "Christ," said Paul, is "the wisdom of God, the first-born Son of God". "Through these interpreta- tions, Paul could neglect the actual life and sayings of Jesus, whom he had not directly known." Jesus said: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the Law to fail". Paul repudiated the same Law, and called it a curse. Wilde narrated a "parable" about Jesus and Paul to the poet W.H. Yeats: "It seemed that Jesus recovered after his cruci- fixion, and, escaping from the tomb, lived on for many years, the one man on earth who knew the falsehood of Christianity. On one occasion, Paul visited the town where Jesus lived. Je- sus was the only one in the car- penters' quarters who did not go to hear Paul preach. Henceforth, the other carpenters noticed that, for some unknown reason, Jesus kept his hands covered." John Guillaumier St Julian's Brokers irked by HSBC attempt to lure customers British Prime Minister Theresa May