The Corner

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Here’s a practical solution to big government, courtesy of the Daily Telegraph obits column:

[David Muffett] spent 16 years in the colonial service in northern Nigeria, where he claimed to have been one of only two Britons whose name passed into the native Hausa language: “Aka yi masa mafed” (literally “One did to him Muffett”), meaning “Justice caught up with him”…

In 1960 he apprehended the Tigwe of Vwuip, a northern Nigerian tribal chief who had eaten the local tax collector. The Tigwe had apparently been so impressed by the man’s ability to acquire money on demand that he had — understandably — decided to try to assimilate his powers.

The Tigwe was, alas, prevented from extending his appetites to international dishes:

What really worried [Muffett] was the fact that a UN delegation was due to visit the area, and “I wasn’t about to have one of them eaten. I considered that it would be a highly retrogressive step.” 

Mark Steyn is an international bestselling author, a Top 41 recording artist, and a leading Canadian human-rights activist.
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