According to dictionary definitions, a ‘PRINCIPLE’ is a fixed rule, a method or practice, an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct, general law or truth from which others are derived.

An ‘OPINION’ on the other hand is a sentiment; a view for one’s conclusion about something. An opinion is a belief or judgment that falls short of absolute conviction, certainty, or positive knowledge; it is a conclusion that certain facts or ideas are probably true or likely to prove so.

So in essence, if you don’t stick to a principle through thick and thin, it stops being a principle. Instead it becomes an opinion, which, you can change every now and then depending on the circumstances, situations and possibly even your mood.

Now in principle I am entirely against a totalitarian style of Government. I have big issues with dictatorial attitudes and in principle I would also throw myself off a bridge to avoid them. 

This means that in principle I’m against the Government’s decision to suspend the hunting season for all and sundry ‘just’ because a few hunters broke the law.

But, in principle, I’m also against hunting - all hunting, always and all the time. Like some charming hunters, I don’t see the difference between a protected species and a non-protected one, I fail and refuse to discriminate between the two, and I don’t care for open and closed hunting seasons. In principle, I believe that hunting, especially for fun, should be totally banned.  It should never ever be ok to blow a living creature out of the sky.

Full stop!

So now that the Government has done something according to one of my principles by going against my other principle, how can my two principles co-exist? Something will have to give, right?

Up to a few days ago, or to be more precise, up until Karmenu Vella was put in the pickle that he is now, I never thought that this administration would have the guts to do something like this - suspending the hunting season for 20 days – but they did. 

And even if I strongly suspect that they might have taken the plunge for other self-interests and not necessarily the good of the birds, I still did a little happy dance ever since the decision was taken.

But I’m wrong and I shouldn’t be doing any kind of dance. As hard as it is I have got to admit that whilst suspending the hunting season is music to my ears, in principle, the good majority should never have to pay for the bad minority.

However there’s this lingering suspicion lurking at the back of my mind that makes me break into dance over and over again – you see, I’m pretty convinced (but obviously this is hard to prove) that the good majority of hunters know who the bad minority are. In my opinion they protect them either because given the opportunity to shoot a protected species out of the sky they would as well, or because they are such a tight knit community made up of relatives and friends that they would rather blame an administration than each other.

So whilst I figure this one out, please expect a little wiggle and jive here and there, and let it be known that I’m saving the full monty for when hunting is banned in its entirety.

Hope floats I guess!