One of the things I miss about living in a tiny Mediterranean country is the charmingly weird local news stories. Julie still reads a couple of Gozo blogs, and this one recently mentioned a transit strike with a peculiar origin:
Move to break hearse cartel sparks transport strike in Malta
A move by the Maltese government to unlock a death grip on hearses by just 11 undertakers met with an indefinite, nationwide transport strike on Monday. Buses, minibuses and taxis blocked major arteries across the Mediterranean island state, notably around the capital Valletta and the tourist area of Sliema, to protest against the decision to offer more licenses to hearse operators.
Hilarious. I don’t usually include the headline, but that one was too good not to.
That’s what can happen in a country of only 400,000 people–the right 11 people can wield a lot of clout. There’s a marketing lesson about influencers in there somewhere.
As it turns out, the Maltese government is just trying to comply with European Union rules to end monopolies in public transport.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Thanks for the plug Darren! 🙂
Actually, the hearses’ cartel was just the beginning, and public transport in general is next. Apparently, the fear of that was what sparked the enormous response by the public transport providers…