SINGLE ISSUERS

I suppose it's not a bad thing to have an interest in life, but when it becomes an obsession, then you really should consider taking up stamp-collecting or something.

Single-issue enthusiasts, such as the pro-hunting lobby (see, I'm not so obsessive that I call them "bird-killers" every time) are particularly prone to being susceptible to this. A small episode that took place today is evidence of this.

On Saturday afternoon (Saturday being the day my pseudonymic column sees the light of day) I received the following email, signed by one Mark Mifsud Bonnici, a gentleman who has made his opinion about hunting, and about me, known quite often and, insofar as concerns me, in less than glowing terms.

He wrote: "Andrew - I see my comment re your wife's chicken and avocado has not been published. Is this the sort of democracy and equality you believe in. Or is this a fine example of the freedom of the press?"

He was referring to a comment he presumably had emailed in response to the bit in my column where I described a meal we had forced down the Saturday before. For the record, I have no control over what the good folk at the Times allow through their editorial net, which I would have thought was self-evident. Perhaps it is not as self-evident as all that, especially if you're feeling all hard done by at having your pastime curtailed.

Mifsud Bonnici went on to let me know the terms of what was presumably the comment that had not, at least up to 5:45pm on Saturday, been electronically published. I assume that the timesofmalta.com people thought it was libellous or too vulgar or something - I don't have such finally tuned sensibilities, so I'm putting into the ether for your delectation.

Mifsud Bonnici wrote: "Dear Andrew - You[r] comment in NOW magazine states that you are opposed to all hunting for this reason: ?I don?t think that the killing animals is an activity that should be accepted any longer in a civilized society? Yet in your article you mention the avocado and CHICKEN your missus ordered. I guess the chicken she ordered must have died of natural causes. HYPOCRITE!!" and there endeth the gospel according to Mifsud Bonnici.

He's right, of course. I left out a phrase after "killing animals" in the comment that sent the dear fellow into such a high dudgeon. I should have added the qualifier "for atavistic pleasure". As to whether or not I am a hypocrite, I make no claim to not being human, so he may or may not be right.

The thing is, I've written about eating steaks, fish and fowl before and Mifsud Bonnici has never felt moved to expound on any perceived inconsistency before. Oh well, better late than never. As I was writing this, Mifsud Bonnici's comment appeared as a comment to this blog (the one before this, if you follow me) with a slightly modified reference to hypocrisy. I guess his aim was a bit off, he meant to shoot it at the I M Beck column, because lying where it is it makes no sense at all. Perhaps this edition of the blog might help anyone who read his comment make sense of it, which is more than I can make of some of the comments I get, both to this blog and to the column.

SORRRRY

A couple of quick apologies - the Eurovision semi-final wasn't last Wednesday, but next (I think) Good luck to Morena and I hope she enjoys herself thoroughly, though please, please, pretty please, can we not have interminable discussions about neighbourly voting and such-like, if and when the Malta entry bombs?

I was upbraided by email for calling West Ham United just West Ham. I grovel, I prostrate myself in utter shame, I wail and I lament at my insensitivity. OK? Forgiven?