Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the Gadarene rush with which all of Muammar Gaddafi’s previous great and good “best mates” and “honoured associates”, on a worldwide basis, are now indecently rushing to dissociate themselves from the tyrant and their past kowtowing and fawning in his presence?

Has he only recently become this persona non grata after the previous 40 years of his oppressive regime? Has his seizure of power in a bloody and ruthless coup only suddenly been acknowledged and finally denigrated? Even Malta has acted in the past as Philistines and welcomed this evil dictator with open arms bestowing upon him our highest accolade and honour recognition, even naming public places after him such as Ġnien Gaddafi, for our own obsequious gratification and financial benefits. However, all of a sudden he has become public enemy number one and all past associations and dealings with him are swept under the carpet as though they never happened, with all past traces of any involvement with him cavalierly and cowardly subject to mass amnesia.

No one would accuse Col Gaddafi of being erudite, with his “hit list” being in all probability miles longer than his reading list. No doubt, he wished that the majority of the Libyan people had only one neck while, in his defence, it is written that all men would be tyrants if they could.

But when you build a throne with bayonets you can’t sit on it forever and I will leave readers with the apt inscription on the Martyr’s monument in Gdansk Shipyard, Poland: “Those who harm simple people and who laugh at their injuries will not be safe ever. For the people will remember.”

It appears that we forgot to remember... until the very end!