I haven’t had a chance to glean inspiration from the Spanish media today so am reduced to the following bagatelle, for which I apologise in advance. . .

In his own blog, our Antipodean friend Aleksu honours me with the title of Stupid Basque-Phobe of the Week. Needless to say, while I may well be stupid, I am not a Basque-phobe. But I certainly am an Aleksu-phobe. For him, of course, these are one and the same thing. What is really fascinating is that he reproduces there his own comments to my blog on the grounds that I will surely delete them. What? - and deprive my readers of so much entertainment! Anyway, for those with the interest and the patience, here’s definitely my last comment on him. If you want to read more of his views on me and [his selective quoting of mine] you’ll have to go to his blog. But this is not something to undertake lightly; as you will know by now, this man is a bigot’s bigot and a zealot’s zealot. . .

Well, our displaced Basque friend has written again to tell us he equates Churchill with Hitler, that England planted colonies within Scotland and Wales [where exactly?] and that Northern Ireland was settled by the English, when it was actually settled mostly by Protestant Scots. Worse, he volunteers that he tracks blogs for any reference to the Basque situation so that he can then spew his bile on the hapless writers. Despite his bizarre perspective and his woeful grasp of history other than [I suppose] of the Basque Country, he categorises the rest of us as idiots and vitriolically condemns our lack of understanding of his cause. Most incredible of all, he actually seems to believe he’s going to influence our thinking via his ranting. Zer ausarkeria! Ah, well. Definitely the last mention of this misguided soul. And I now have to form a plan to ensure that my blog never again graces the computer screen in his little New Zealand eyrie. Meanwhile, Aleksu, if you want to post more of your cant, feel completely free. If you believe nothing else I write, believe this - It’s priceless and I wouldn’t have the heart to delete it. Though I imagine this does happen to you quite a lot.

Strange – I’ve just had an email from Gerry Adams, thanking me for allowing my blog to be used in a way which has resulted in him acquiring the reputation of being a reasonable human being. It’s beyond me.