posted 06 February 2006 05:09 AM                   

Berlusconi not fit to govern.

posted 06 February 2006 11:06 AM                   

Superb column. Very funny in places. Mrs Berlusconi's well-earned rest ...

We must keep track of that summary of the man's depredations.

I wonder whether the Guardian is thinking of reprising for the Italians its campaign to sway Ohio voters? That would be fun. I wrote to an Ohio voter; sadly, she never replied. You don't think it was all my fault, do you?

posted 06 February 2006 11:19 AM                   

Well, perhaps this would be an excuse to go to Italy.

But I don't really see myself speaking to a Berlusconi voter in Italy. Left and Right are really different cultures, networks, over there. they even support different football clubs! In Rome, Roma supporters are traditionally the Left (they have red kit); Lazio's the right - often the far-right: neo-fascists who give the Roman salute, racists who throw bananas at Black players and soap at Jewish ones. Perhaps some wavering voters will decide the outcome, as in many places.

The town where I lived was traditionally Communist, but in Italian terms that means an NDP government with a few more red flags and old partisan hymns...

posted 08 February 2006 08:57 PM                   

Beyond the idiocy of this new legislation, it overlooks the dire hard drug problem in many parts of Italy, even among "nice" middle-class families. Grrrrrrr.

posted 13 February 2006 05:01 AM                   

Viva Roma!

posted 13 February 2006 05:42 AM                   

Tell me fascists come in all shapes and sizes. They certainly don't all have the same educational background - like the Skulls & Cross-Bones sh*t at Yale. But in Italy one wonders if the really popular fascists, the ones most likely to suceed in politics, are better at it when they are old, fat, large or anything but thin and hungry young men. Berlusconi may be scary but I tend to worry most about the thin old men, the ones educated at Opus Dei institutions who know how to pull strings without the outward trappings of persona and megabucks lifestyle at the wheel of a Ferrari.

posted 18 February 2006 05:39 PM                   

A collection of sayings from Roberto Calderoli, the Northern League minister in the Berlusconi governing coalition who had to resign after his Mohammen cartoon t-shirt sparked off violent protests in Libya (a former Italian colony). From Ali Baba to chemical castration!

Do you notice how OLD this cretin looks - he is not yet 50.

posted 18 February 2006 05:49 PM                   

I quite agree. Every time he opens his mouth, he diminishes it.

posted 27 February 2006 01:49 PM                   

I liked the little touch about the footballers with their hair dyed blond. Ersatz Aryans?