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My attention has been drawn to the fact that last Sunday’s Sundays included a number of references to this blog – mostly thanks to the Great Issue of last week in which J’accuse explored the background and repercussions of Labours employment of Marisa Micallef. Unfortunately I was travelling for most of Sunday and therefore I failed to notice most of these references until of course my dad did point out a few of them, coyly remarking “So, some people DO read your blog after all!”.

Yes they do dad, and here’s the kind of collage that you enjoy so much … it should take your mind  off the gloating over Juve’s latest loss and Chelsea and Inter’s latest wins. For the two other readers of this blog, here is a roundup of J’accuse in the news. I will follow Marie Benoit’s advice and slap my left hand as an act of contrition. (Is it always the left that needs slapping Marie? Don’t bother answering, it’s a rhetorical question). Click to continue…

Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday said he would be asking people to take to the streets and stage a protest against the way the government was leading the country. (Times)

They’ll soon be telling you that you are not cool Joe. And they’d be right. You may gift wrap your “Issa Daqshekk” Union in new clothing all you like. You may walk like the nationalists and talk like the nationalists all you want. You may claim to be progressive until the cows (and undecided) come home. What you are doing though is simply proving, like others before you, that you are capable of being a protester – a noisy opposition.

“I would never leave the party. I am a fourth generation person. First generation was when an Arrigo was a speaker of parliament. (Talk of crossing to Labour) would come from some foul-mouthed people.” – Robert Arrigo (interviewed by Herman Grech on www.timesofmalta.com) 

Robert Arrigo must be cool. By his own admission he is an ongoing success story. No matter how constructively critical he is of the nationalist party and no matter how much his constructive criticism is not heeded he will not leave the party. Which is good. J’accuse likes the way Robert Arrigo thinks. Others might define Robert’s actions in a different manner. Nowadays it seems that there are two categories coming straight out of Scooby Doo cartoons of the sixties and seventies. Since the next election will be won or lost depending on the cohort of disgruntled 40 pluses I guess the language of “cool and hip” might hit home. Somewhere. Maybe.

This was the week of tsunamis, earthquakes and missile tests. It was the week when an EU inquiry finally found that Georgia was to blame for starting the Georgia-Russia war (and that Russia over-reacted). It was the week in which the Chinese People’s Republic celebrated its 60th year of communism, the G20 summit ended with a commitment to create a global framework to balance economies and the week in which the people of Guinea and Honduras respectively rose against their governments.

These were the seven days in which Christian Democrat Angela Merkel (Germany) and Socialist José Socrates (Portugal), with their watered-down policies, were returned to government with a weaker position than the one they occupied prior to the elections. They were the last few days for Irish voters to decide whether to vote yes or no (again) to the Lisbon Treaty. They were also the days of the last Labour conference for Gordon Brown before next year’s June election. It was in an interview with The Telegraph that Labour’s Business Secretary and former EU Commissioner Lord Mandelson conceded that he would be prepared to accept a job working for the future Conservative government.

Lord Mandelson’s claim to be willing to work for the interests of his country in the future, even if the party in government might not be the one for which he is a main canvasser in the forthcoming election, did cause some raised eyebrows. Some evil, evil wags might even imply that Mandy might be sniffing the wind of change (or the inevitable punishment to be meted out to a dry Labour government, bereft of ideas) and be preparing to jump ship. Weirdly enough, nobody explored Lord Mandelson’s sexual preferences, marital status or economic situation. Nobody in the English press stooped so low as to speculate whether his possible ‘defection’ would be fired by a dire economic situation due to the financial crisis.

Significantly, Mandelson DID say that he was too ‘tribal’ to work as a minister in a Tory cabinet but he would not rule out serving his country by taking up a public office under a Tory government. Mandelson is not an uncontroversial figure and is often pictured as a king-maker within the Labour fold – it was Mandelson who switched his backing to Blair in the original Blair-Brown tussle and it is Mandelson who is touting rising Labour star Ed Miliband, but more of that later. What is interesting is the reaction to this potential ‘turncoat’ activity by a high profile Labour politician and strategist.

This stay in Epinal is proving to be more than pleasant and reinvigorating. We noticed upon arrival on Friday night that our last minute hotel was bang in the middle of a concentration of shopping zones – foremost among which (at least according to the better half) was the outlet selling all forms of the latest Desigual clothing. The male line of this particular designer leaves much to be desired but I must admit that the choice for the ladies is absolutely heavenly.

So we strolled from shop to shop and broke many and austere promise in the process. Epinal was in festive mode with its riversides bedecked in floral gaiety in celebration of sexy Saint Maurice. My girlfriend decided Maurice was sexy as she gazed upon a representation of the Latin saint in the Basilica at Epinal. The town is wonderfully tiny and can be visited in one day – the beautiful side is that every eatery seems to be a wonderful experience. Midday we opted for Breton food at La Cornouaille – sarrasin fillesakpancakes full of blood pudding, apples and walnuts for me and steak haché, gruyère and egg for the missus.

This evening, after the swim in the bubbly pool and sauna we treated ourselves to a sumptuous chinese meal complete with sake digestive spirit. The porcelain set in which the sake was served is sure to prompt some oohs and aahs from the clientele – the tiny shooter sized glass has a glass bubble bottom and so long as the glasses are full of the sake you can perceive an image at the bottom of the glass. Said image is of very naked women (for the lads) and very naked and endowed men (for the ladies). Being the gimmick lover than I am I was thrilled by this particular peculiarity and back at the hotel have started my search for a collector’s set of these porno glasses which seem to be traditional chinese fare.

No luck until now as all ebay auctions on the products in question have closed. Anyways, I am off to get a nice nap. Tomorrow it is the musée des images before heading back north to Luxembourg. Incidentally winter is officially with us here with temperatures hitting the sixes and sevens at night. Time to cozy up! Have a nice Sunday…

We finally got proof that Obama is infallible as the bid for hosting the 2016 Olympics was one by Lula’s Brasil. J’accuse is over the moon for this double-whammy celebrating one of the world’s greatest sporting nations. Anyways, I am going to take this weekend off. Luxembourg promises to be boring this weekend so I’m scooting off with my better half down to Epinal – cité d’images. I’ll be back Sunday evening. Look out for this week’s article in the Indy… it’s called “The Sultans of Swing” and there’s no prizes for guessing the topic. (No it’s not Dire Straits).

Have a nice Notte Bianca.