No, this is not a piece about the crypto-Labourites who have been outed by josephmuscat.con’s appointment (of them) to various boards in his gift.

To start with, I’m not one of those who thinks he’s doing anything particularly wrong – every Government appoints people it trusts to positions of trust, and to be going on with, most of the appointees were known to be Labourite in their hearts anyway, so who’s surprised? Quite a few people are having conniptions about Muscat’s promises of meritocracy being his watchword and being able to work with anyone but come on, did anyone with an ounce of sense take him seriously? And no more guff about some of the appointees being less than stellar, while we’re about it, when the boot was on the other foot, some appointees weren’t exactly Einstein.

What I’d like to reflect on is the poignancy of the way Jason Collins came out as gay and the media fuss that greeted this. He’s one of the first, if not the first, professional American athlete to come out.

Why did it take him so long?

I’m only asking because the answer is sadly obvious and disturbing: he didn’t feel comfortable admitting (and I know the word is negative, I’m using it that way to make the point) to being gay and a professional athlete in the United States, where men are men and liberal thought anathema. In the twenty-first century, a citizen of the world’s policeman, the protector of human liberty and freedom, a sportsman is uncomfortable about being gay.

Can you imagine what it would be like for him here? A sight better than it is in America, I’m sure, but are we any more liberal, in truth? All the LGBT flags waving in the wind might find themselves waving from the walls of the ghetto if we’re not careful: real liberalism consists in complete blindness as to differences that are not relevant except to the bigoted and I’m much afraid that we’re not yet blind enough.