The report on political satire during carnival (February 21) makes interesting reading.

It is incredible that the law on restricting political satire in Malta during carnival never existed and that this censorship was the result of self-imposed restrictions created purely by accident.

Last year during the carnival period, while in Palazzolo Acreide in the province of Siracusa in nearby Sicily, I came across a number of political floats intended to poke jibes at various characters and situations referring to the Italian political scene.

The float Gli incubi del Cavaliere (the nightmares of the Knight) threw jibes at the Cavaliere himself and another float poked fun at other well-known Italian political figures such as Antonio Di Pietro (leader of one of the oppostion parties), Gianfranco Fini (then deputy Prime Minister and Stefania Prestigiacomo (then Minister for the Environment).

Perhaps, after all, we do not really need that much time here in Malta to, as Malta Carnival Association president Jason Busuttil put it, adjust so that satire is introduced slowly as a category in the carnival competitions.

Bring it on, I’d say!