Could football have helped Catalonia ban bullfighting?

In 1958, I, as a very small boy, made the then six-hour plane trip from Birmingham, England to Majorca. There, I discovered to my horror, bullfighting. Another English boy there at the time, who seemed very old to me but was probably about 10, tried to alleviate my distress by telling me it was just a matter of time before the Spanish government banned this barbaric sport. This would be, he explained in school masterly fashion, mainly due to its popularity fading because of the Spanish nation’s growing obsession with football.

Now, some 52 years later, Catalonia has at last banned this despicable sport, for which it was the natural world champion. Hurrah! But I can’t help but wonder if the normally underperforming Spanish would have done the right thing if they hadn’t just won the World Cup, Wimbledon and the Tour de France this year.

Either way, well done Spain on all counts and a big thank you from bulls everywhere.

And if it proves all too depressing for some bloodthirsty Latins, may I suggest government fighting introduced in its stead? What sport is government fighting I hear you ask the bossy boots that you share your life with as she gets your breakfast?

It’s a new but fast growing sport in Greece, Ireland and Portugal, among other countries in Europe. You get a few hundred of those wonderfully silly left wingers who have wrecked the Spanish economy by chronic waste and bureaucracy, lead them into a bull ring draped in their red flags and then allow them to be charged by a stampede of raging bulls.

Outrage at bad driving tag

Last month I lambasted the strategy, direction and performance of the Maltese tourist industry. I vented my anger on Mepa and the construction industry and made plain my dislike of the island’s dilapidated houses, rubbish and unfinished buildings all of which detract from the natural beauty of the place.

I expected an avalanche of criticism and calls for me to be flung from my bastion in Mdina. But not a word was said. Everywhere I went, I was thanked for supporting the MFSA, industry and the Freeport and was even told that my complaints about tourism were all totally justified.

Indeed, the only thing that seemed to upset a few – well actually everyone – was my statement that the Maltese were the worst drivers in Europe.

Why is it that, along with being told that your baby is ugly, you are crap at sex or have bad breath, being identified as a bad driver is just about as big an insult that one human being can bestow on another?

Can you be politically correct and honest?

Diane Abbott should not be prevented from becoming the next leader of Britain’s Labour Party because she is a woman, black or extremely fat. She is all three but that should not go against her I say. No, it is because she is so mentally retarded economically that no one in his or her right mind should ever be tempted to vote for her. I recommend a lobotomy to anyone who has even considered it for a second. Complaints about this piece from socialist voting feminists should be addressed to the editor please.

Gypsies and filming brighten up the fading French soap opera

The snooty Frogs have completely fallen out of love with their midget President, Nicolas Sarkozy, just as I predicted they would. However, this wasn’t a case of brilliant deduction by me. The combination of his sickly Blair and Obama style shallow celebrity and the severe (but necessary) policies he introduced to deal with the recession were bound to have brought this about and even my dog could have called it correctly.

Indeed, the high flying British Premier, David Cameron, who is deservedly a local hero just now, will also sink to the depths of unpopularity as his austere programme, designed to save the British economy, begins to bite. Such is the fickle nature of any electorate.

However, it is interesting to see, as we approach the silly season in politics, how Le Petit Napoleon is attempting to fight back. Firstly, a la Blair, he takes time off to visit the Woody Allen film set to see his wife, the beautiful Carla, make her film debut. Nicky’s old lady is a cracking looker but I hope she can act better than she can sing or the film may bomb at the box office.

Nevertheless, it provided the Cuban heeled President with many good photo opportunities and, given Allen’s experience as a director and a small man himself, no doubt the fact that the President was standing on a chair while standing next to the sexy Carla will be well disguised.

At the same time, Emperor Bonaparte has decided to wage a war of racism, according to his socialist opposition. They claim that he hopes to improve his standing with the French public, who are probably the most racist in Europe, by expelling illegal immigrant gypsies and banning Muslim girls from covering their faces while in class at school.

No doubt there will be many French who will support these policies. Indeed, there can be no doubt that the French are, by nature, extremely racist and, as previously reported here, many of them refuse to even acknowledge the Maltese as European – preferring to describe them as ‘a part of the Arab piece of the British Empire’.

However, let us consider the position a little more carefully. It is well documented that I am not always too impressed by the midget President, and it is even better documented that I despise tyrannical, dictatorial and evil government of either the far left or right.

Indeed, the persecution of Jews and gypsies by the Nazis horrified the world less than a century ago and was so awfully imprinted on the minds of my generation as it grew up 20 years after WW2.

Nevertheless, the charge of racism against the French President is without foundation and is uttered by those foolish 1950/60 baby boomers whose brains have been drained by a cancer called political correctness.

Illegal immigrants who roam around the country, thieving, mugging, leaving rubbish everywhere and paying no taxes while claiming benefits deserve to be expelled whether they are gypsies or not. Moreover, if some people can cover their faces up in class why shouldn’t the rest of the pupils? Is this really a case of discrimination, and if so, against whom?

All too often political correctness defends the criminal fraternity and minority sects at the expense of the victims, who are all too often the young or the elderly and the silent majority.

So well done Mr President Sir. Monsieur – have a good break and enjoy the company of the lovely Carla with or without a stepladder this summer.

Candid Cameron is right and Pakistan protesteth too much I think

On a recent visit to India, the British Prime Minister was rebuked in parts of the British media for answering a question directly and honestly concerning Pakistan’s involvement with terrorism. He was criticised for both his comment and the fact that he had made no such reference to the point in any of his speeches to Indian audiences on his trip.

But why should he have made reference to Pakistan in speeches designed to address levels of trade between India and the UK? And what did he say that was so undiplomatic? In answer to a question, he made it clear that Pakistan could not continue to take billions of financial aid from the West while sheltering and even training its terrorist enemies – especially the Taliban.

The Pakistani government was furious and protested loudly while denying the overwhelming evidence of their guilt, so the chinless men from the BBC and the Guardian and Mirror newspapers threw their hands up in horror. They were backed by the ghastly weak, wet and bureaucratic David Miliband, now seeking to lead the wholly discredited Labour Party.

Well, I would rather not be on this earth at all than be some kind of spineless appeaser of their ilk. I think it is about time the West made it plain to Pakistan that the time has come for it to stand up and be counted on the side of humanity (irrespective of any religious persuasion) and that it can no longer run with the hare and hunt with the hounds in this matter as a result.

Mr. Cameron, by saying that Pakistan should no longer be allowed to look both ways, was doing precisely that. Moreover, by giving an honest answer to an honest question he was demonstrating that he might just be what everyone from Paris to Sydney and from London to San Francisco has been craving for – a straight and decent politician who tells the truth.

Of course there will always be diplomatic niceties to be observed and, on occasion, there will be times when some things are best left unsaid, and the USA does worry about Pakistan collapsing if put under pressure. But the West cannot go on turning a blind eye forever to treachery.

Pakistan’s Intelligent Services have cancelled London talks with their British counterparts as a result of Mr Cameron’s comments. If they were really concerned about the fight against terrorism they would have expressed their anger and protested their innocence rather than cancel a meeting that they should be committed to for mutual benefit. The fact that they cancelled the meeting speaks volumes about their real conviction.

Moreover, I’m not so sure that I would want to share my anti-terrorism intelligence with guys who might be linked to the Taliban. So perhaps it is for the best anyway.

I think Pakistan protesteth too much while Cameron’s honesty and conviction are not in doubt, and that’s just as well because as philosopher Edmund Burke said, “In order for evil to prevail it is only necessary that good men do nothing”.

So well done Prime Minister – a good start abroad as well as at home. What a pleasant change to be admiring a British government after the last 13 years of lies, corruption and incompetent bureaucracy.

A craving for power or a need to do good?

Men come to power because, whatever else they might claim, they thirst for it. But what makes them so thirsty – the fame, fortune, celebrity, the desire to dominate or just an overwhelming need to do good works?

With very few exceptions they will claim it was the latter. But how do we know they are being truthful? Look at them as parents, for a man who is a poor father has no concept of goodness and therefore it is impossible that such could be his motivation. The need for goodness starts at home.

A few weeks ago, Lord Walker, best known as Peter Walker, the Thatcher Cabinet minister who defeated the miners at the end of the famous year-long strike in the 1980s, died following a long illness bravely fought. He was an excellent father of five and no one who knew him ever needed to ask such a question of him.

Politicians such as Lord Walker are unfortunately not common so it is worth remembering him. It was a privilege to have known him.

Angelina Jolie’s life by Andrew Morton – Really?

The world’s highest-paid actress, Angelina Jolie, has talked openly about drug abuse, self-harm and abandonment. However, her unofficial biographer, Andrew Morton, the vastly over-rated ex-royal correspondent, claims to have found another devil, one buried so deep that even she does not acknowledge it.

Oh really! This comes from the pen of a man who was duped into typing up Diana – Her True Story after it had been dictated and edited by the mentally ill Princess herself. Surely, if that book was so wildly inaccurate why should we presume that he got this one right?