Times are a changing...

Well I've been absent from blogging for a while, having left Kuwait over 20 months now, and occasionally visiting and updating the old blog here... but with Bahraini MPs providing so much fodder for comment on, Mahmood leaving the blogging arena, and the local tabloid providing such a good impression of 'News of the World' or the 'The Sun'... sorry, can't use the Daily Star as the Ministry of (Dis)Information has blocked it... And as for that other English paper in Bahrain... er, forget it..., for the last year after being reported as a internet attack site, they seem to have disappeared from having a web presence at all now.
As I was saying, times are a changing in Bahrain, but if you were to read the papers it would appear to be for the worse as it slides down that slippery slope to be yet another Saudi Arabia... First it's an attempt to ban alcohol on Gulf Air flights, then ban alcohol at the airport, and now it's the turn of banning pork! Next it will be compulsory hijab for women, no driving for women, and no reason to come to Bahrain for the weekend to leave behind that repressive islamic regime... well, I suppose that's one good thing to come out of it. Bahraini's will get back their roads & shopping malls in the weekend, many grotty hotels that don't deserve their 2, 3, or 4 stars will close down, and professional workers in the male entertainment industry will leave. On the flip side, lots of retailers will have to shut up shop, and more legitimate businesses will have to cut back, when expats if they want to continue to work in the region will head to where the real demand for jobs is.... in Saudi! Visitors for the Formula One and any other international event at the Bahrain International Circuit will decide to give Bahrain a miss... and this in an economy that is suffering and struggling to diversify from declining oil reserves.
So, are the trinity hoping that the loony rantings of the MPs will ensure they get voted out next time around, or are they going to accede and allow the islamists to have their way... I hope the former, more and more I am expecting the latter.