Wild boar, political bores and me being boring about language use!

Bring back Astérix and Obélix! Why? Because they were famous hunters of wild boar ... as well as famous harassers of Romans. Their help might be appreciated in Chianti, Italy, where producers of Chianti Classico are having problems with wild boar invading their vineyards and causing mayhem, uprooting vines and generally being a nuisance. 

And it's not just wild boar. Apparently small deer are also in on the act. It never used to be a problem but both species have bred like rabbits over the last decade and are now all over the area. Hunters are supposed to keep the numbers down and do go out shooting the animals. There is an illicit trade in wild boar meat so they do quite nicely out of it. (No doubt, our heroes Astérix and Obélix would appreciate the popularity of their favourite dish.) Because of this it seems that some hunters are actually feeding the wild boar, thus encouraging them to remain and breed in the area. Shocking! 

Such are the problems of the rich wine producers! 

I am constantly amazed at how important religion has become in politics. I'm pretty sure there is nothing in the American constitution that says the president has to be a good Christian but it seems to be more and more the case that candidates have to show their faith. To that end - well, I assume it was to that end - Donald Trump made sure he was seen at a church this weekend. Apparently the Reverend Dr Pamela Saturnia gave a sermon that pointed out the Christian values of helping the outsiders and those discriminated against. Such as immigrants and refugees. Mr Trump commented later, “I don’t know if that was aimed at me … perhaps." 

Mr Trump has been trying hard to get the church people on his side, getting himself introduced on the campaign trail by the president of one of the countries evangelical universities and campaigning with the Rev Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas, a megachurch. No doubt this is because he is up against Texas senator Ted Cruz, a conservative preacher’s son who is getting a lot of support in some areas of the country. 

What I would like to know is what is an evangelical university? Does it do other courses as well as religion and how to be a preacher? I bet the science courses are interesting! And how about a "megachurch"?! America - where everything is super-sized! Oops! prejudicial stereotypes alert! 

Something odd, but rather pleasing, has just happened. I was about to have a little rant about this kind of thing that I was growing tired of seeing on Facebook: "Fred Bloggs has updated THEIR profile picture". Someone must have warned Facebook because when I went to look for an example I found that they had changed to correctly organised or differentiated versions: "Laura has updated HER profile picture" and "Paul has updated HIS profile picture". I really don't like the use of "their" in place of "his" or "her". 

Okay, so we don't have a neutral possessive adjective in English. Okay, so it's easier in gender based languages where you make "his" or "her" agree with the thing that belongs to him or her. Okay, so it's even easier in Spanish where the word "su" is used for "his", "her" and "their". But the modern trend to use "their" in English is driving me bonkers! 

Right! That's enough of that!