In the good old days, when he was younger and healthier, Fidel Castro used to bore Cubans rigid with his marathon, six-hour-long speeches.

Like the absolute ruler that he was (is?), Castro would speak on any topic he chose at any time, anywhere …

And sure enough, a grateful nation would have to stop whatever it was doing, no matter how important, to let him speak. And speak. And speak.

There was no choice.

Now, of course, Castro is too frail and probably too senile to be allowed out in public.

But he remains determined to force Cubans to listen to him.

He does this through the semi-regular “editorials” he has been writing from his sickbed for the past few weeks on just about anything that comes into his mind, from George W Bush (an old favourite) to ethanol to the Missile Crisis.

His reflexiones - as they are now officially known on the island - are then dutifully printed in all their glory in the official media, and not just in his native Spanish but translated into several foreign languages, including English.

The latest effort, which was published on Sunday under the catchy headline of “World Tyranny”, runs to close to 6,000 words.

I kid you not.

And here is the really bad news: Castro concludes his latest marathon exposition with the line, “I will say no more. It is enough for today.”

In other words, he’ll be back …