Berlusconi lives...!

[Steve Graham]

Originally Posted by Torchiarolan

We were in a restaurant in Italy, when we heard on the ubiquitous TV in the corner that the Prodi government fell, most Italians there jumped up delighted and cheered, like a goal in the world cup, thought a table of 7 nearby was going to start a fight they looked and spoke so angrily, anyway it calmed down, and we were advised that the other table were "Prodi supporters"

That's actually one of the things I find attractive about Italian politics. (If anything about politics could be attractive.) Political questions on social and economic issues actually matter to people.

In the UK, you have the choice between centre-right New 'Labour', centre-right Conservatives and centre-right Liberal Democrats. And don't get me started on my home patch in Northern Ireland where tribe is more important than anything else.

(If I was an Italian citizen right now, I'd be rainbow-inclined.)

[tuscanhills]

....do things matter because people are interested per se, or becuase there are a vast number of factions to identify with?

Speaking from my usual position of total ognorance, I notice that in the UK there are only really 2 (maybe 3) camps......so one has to use a fair bit of rounding error if one wants to affiliate with any of them.

[Nardini]

Poor old Berlusconi has cause for pink cheeks again - supposing you can see the pink against his eternal orange, that is.

It seems that one of his "selected" worker bees, designated for work in the Berlusconi fold after the April elections, has announced his life-long love of fascism - and Benito Mussolini.

Giuseppe Ciarrapico, a businessman from Rome and past president of AS Roma, is in the running for a new seat in the Senate. Perhaps he missed the bit when Fini corrected his own attraction to Mussolini back in 2002?

[Nardini]

Well, it looks as though Berlusconi has done it. Again.

Shares in Mediaset are already rising with the news - although the news for Berlusconi is not quite as rosy as he thought it might be. Bossi has done very well, ensuring that he retains a firm grip on Berlusconi's little bits. So much, then, for a constitutional change that has any kind of real significance as Bossi will not - can not, in fact - allow it. So, it's back to square one again.

Bring on the Messina Bridge project! Long may it make fortunes for the builders and low-paid work for the people of Calabria and Sicily. It may even be finished before the next major earthquake! Forse...

PS. Has anyone heard yet which month we won't be paying tax in? And ... yippee! ... no bollo next year!

Hah.