Culture Cheque

Floriana’s Independence Arena was already humming by 07:30 this morning as school bands tuned their drums beneath the orange-flecked ħarruba trees. By the time the Chief Herald stepped onto the stone dais at 08:00 sharp, the crowd—grandparents clutching plastic bottles of Kinnie, toddlers waving paper Maltese crosses—had swollen well past the 5 000 mark. The…