The Paddy McGuffin Column: Nothing to see here...

This column usually steers well clear of the subject of sport - not for it the minute discussion of the relative merits of the 4-4-2 versus 4-3-3 formations or whether league or union is the apogee of the game.

There are far too many others spouting rubbish and behaving appallingly without having to trawl through the sub-literate tweeting of footie philosophers or the conspiracy theories of messrs Dalglish, Mancini and Ferguson et al.

In fact even the use of the term "sport" is disputable in some instances.

Legendary darts commentator Sid Waddell did indeed once state: "Jocky Wilson, what an athlete," but he also memorably described another player as having "eyes like a pterodactyl with contact lenses."

Waddell is a genius - intentionally or not - of the spoken word. Many others attached even peripherally to the sporting world are not.

The main reason this column doesn't do sport is because it is a field of which it has little knowledge.

That however hasn't stopped senior figures in the sporting world from weighing in with spectacularly ill-judged and crass opinions on the issues of the day in recent times, so here goes...

They say that sport and politics should not mix, but it would appear no-one told Bernie Ecclestone, the FAI or the Bahraini regime and their willing shills this.

Yes, as democratic protesters are being beaten, shot, tear-gassed, imprisoned and tortured in ever increasing numbers the big concern of the day appears to be whether a bunch of spoiled, pampered multi-millionaires can drive really fast in their overblown go-karts around a track.

They don't even go anywhere. Just round and round in circles, a bit like the regime's pledges to improve its human rights record after massacring protesters during the Arab Spring.

At the weekend Ecclestone, the diminutive doyen of motor racing, stated: "Everybody's happy. We haven't got any problems."

Of course he's happy and doesn't have any problems, he's a sodding billionaire.

"It's a problem being discussed by the media. They don't have any idea what's going on. That's the problem."

So, not a bunch of blood-soaked despots murdering their own people then? "There's nothing happening. I know people who live there and it's all very quiet and peaceful."

Yes, Bernie, and your daughters are the shy retiring types.

In a report published this week, Amnesty said that abuses continue unabated in Bahrain and warned that going ahead with the Grand Prix would send a message to the regime that it was acceptable to continue its abuses.

Still, Ecclestone must be used to cosying up to human rights abusers and war criminals by now. A few years ago he gave Tony Blair so much money he got a knighthood.

But it wasn't just Ecclestone. Former England Under-21s manager and apparently self-styled PR guy for tyrannical autocratic regimes Peter Taylor also put his mouth where his money is and, showing the tact and forethought for which footballers are renowned, declared the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix should go ahead.

Taylor, who took over as coach of Bahrain's national football team in July and therefore may have a vested interest in whether his next cheque gets signed, said he could not see "any point" in calling the Grand Prix off.

"There are problems here but I also fear more is made of them than they are (sic)," he shilled. "Personally I haven't witnessed many protests."

You'll notice the use of the word "many" there. A somewhat subjective term.

Many, many people have been killed and tortured by the regime and its thugs, probably using weapons sold to them by UK plc, but to former Met Commander John Yates it's a case of "move along, nothing to see here."

He felt safer there than in London, he said, although that may have been because there was a strong possibility he would be nicked for corruption while in Blighty.

Ecclestone hinted this week at a new Grand Prix to take place in Africa. Given his track record my money's on Libya or the Democratic Republic of Congo. There's nothing going on there, is there?