Sad day

Tragedy

What a sad day today for Belgium. Two trains collided head-on during the rush hour at 8:30 this morning in Halle, a pleasant suburban town to the SW of Brussels. The outcome - many passengers dead; the number is still undetermined, an early estimate being about 20. Even as I write this evening, there are people trapped inside the trains that literally drove into each other. People needed to have limbs amputated under the snow to be released from the wreckage. They had just set off from their loved ones at home for a normal day of work. How awfully terrible.

The cause of the accident is yet unestablished. The most likely, as reported in various news bulletins, is that one driver didn't see a red light and kept going.

I only hope it wasn't due to the pig-headed linguistic pride that resulted in several deaths in another train crash a few years ago. That was criminally insane - ignoring the risk of people dying for the sake of a stupid language.

Michael Jackson

I've just been watching a news item, where a lawyer representing the Jackson family is claiming that Michael's doctor, who is currently facing charges of manslaughter related to his patient's death, deliberately murdered Michael Jackson.

I'm astounded. Now why should Michael Jackson's doctor want to kill him? I suppose he was earning good money off him. The way I see it, it was already a miracle that the poor fellow lived to be 50. He was a walking skeleton. It was painful to watch.

Anthony Mifsud

Back in Malta, in the dark days of the Mintoff regime a prison warder was falsely accused of allowing two inmates to escape. He was tortured in the process. He lost his job, his health, his wits. He became an invalid. For many years after Mintoff and KMB were sent packing Mifsud sought compensation for this inhuman treatment from the Maltese government. A few months ago, after much delaying tactics the Maltese courts finally awarded him 180,000 euro in damages. Today the Times of Malta reported that now Mifsud has had to file a judicial letter in the Court, claiming that he was never paid his due.

What an utter shame! This is a government that claims to be inspired by Christian Democratic values. CD values, my arse.

Enrico Preziosi

Enrico Preziosi is president of the Genoa football club. Six years or so ago he was caught red-handed bribing officials from another club to lose so that his Genoa would gain promotion to Serie A. Police agents found a briefcase literally full of cash provided by Mr Preziosi. Genoa did win their game, but were then demoted to Serie C.

This same Enrico Preziosi is now accusing Alex Del Piero, who was yesterday tripped by a Genoa defender as he entered the penalty area, earning a penalty for Juventus, of cheating. Whether he was tripped inside the area or not is irrelevant here - it was the referee's job to check where the offence took place. This accusation of cheating, coming from the scoundrel Enrico Preziosi, is indeed rich.

Bersani and Emilio Fede

It had to be these two political arch enemies, at last, to make me smile this evening. Emilio Fede, a journalist and news director of Rete 4, Berlusconi's most ardent and outspoken supporter in the Italian media, invited Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the opposition and the Italian ex communists, the Partito Democratico, for a live TV interview on Fede's evening news programme. The discussion was heated, but civil. Both men of diametrically opposite political opinion clearly enjoyed the debate. So did I enjoy watching their repartee, an exhibition of civilised disagreement, the way it should be.