Astonishing because it may well be the first English language report to fully abide by all the rules of the new 'Italian school' of journalism, with all the rigour that entails.

Lesson number two - Make it official!
Get it straight from the horse's mouth, or in this case from showman prime minister himself. "[regarding the rubbish cris in Naples] In July, Parliament approved Berlusconi's plan to open new landfills and incinerators, and permit soldiers to protect temporary landfills from angry residents. Days later Berlusconi said 50,000 tons of trash had been removed". No need, then, to run any checks on that.

Here it's worth making a brief aside, to discuss some of the excellent new tools for journalists conducting research. If you need to do a piece, for example, on school bullying, or crazy pets (both essential items for any serious newspaper/newscast - obviously), then the first point of call is youtube. Caution though, as our studious Newsweek journo is well aware, the golden rule for research with youtube is never, repeat never refer to participatory networks on youtube that may, with video, throw into question an official source.

So, when our Newsweek reporter writes "Emblematic has been his ability to clean up Naples", he's dead-right not to go searching for any evidence to the contrary.

Lesson number three - Simplify!
If it can't be said in a snappy sentence, then it probably isn't worth reporting - according to the Italian school. Following this axiom, we have this brilliantly condensed piece of electoral history:

"But Berlusconi, the 72-year-old media mogul, cannily exploited a 2005 electoral law that wiped out these small parties to win a surprise landslide victory from which the opposition is still trying to recover."

There isn't enough time in the day, or space in print obviously to explain the difference between drafting a law in full knowledge of the benefits it gives your particluar political grouping and exploiting it. Keep it simple.

On the same theme, best to not mention organised crime's role in the Naples rubbish emergency - reducing it to a simple case of mistrtusting the competence of local left-wing administration:

"Naples, buried for months under trash in part because the surrounding communities simply [emphasis added] did not trust the government to manage the landfills"

After all, if you give space to the well-credited view that the Camorra in Naples have a guiding hand in every stage of the waste business, then you'll have to go looking for answers as to what role they've had in the 'solution' so efficiently administered by Berluska.

Lesson Four - Feel the hand of History on your shoulder
Readers like a context, so where possible subtle but flattering comparisons to past Italian statesmen can add to the 'colour' of a piece, thus adding journalistic value

"In his first 100 days in office, Silvio Berlusconi may have done the impossible: to a degree unprecedented in modern Italian history, he asserted control over this seemingly ungovernable nation"

and

"they are demanding security, financial and otherwise. And Berlusconi is delivering, with an iron-fist-in-velvet-glove competence"

Exemplary journalism, of a kind.

"The gesturee of the German athlete Imke Duplitzer, who has announced she will not take part at the opening ceremony of the games, to protest against the lack of human rights in China, is a stimulus or all athlets, including the Italians. [...] It's a symbolic gesture, that should invite all to reflect on those fundamental principles, Peace, Liberty and Democracy, that can never be put insecond place. And with this show of dissent, as in past occasions,one can express support and solidarity with the population whose liberty is being suffocated".

Gasparri's comments are on the same pragmatic level. If anyone's going to say anything about the Olympics from Berlusconi's party, make sure it's someone who holds a position of debatable relevance. Protest but don't protest.

Gasparri knows a thing or two about human rights and protest. He was, after all, a member of govenment when the Genova G8 protests happened, and has made it his business to comment on them since.

Witnesses in trials that have led to various convictions detailed how police rounded up protesters and held them without charge, in various structures, where they were subjected to beatings, cruel and inhuman treatment, and the threat of rape - all against a background of fascist songs praising Mussolini and Pinochet.

Gasparri's insightful and sporting comment on the police behaviour in Genoa? "The protests in Florence (later in 2001) went better than that in Genoa, because the violent protesters that wanted to trash the city, understood that the state doesn't mess around"

It's all clear in hindsight. The peaceful protesters who were rounded up and beaten by the state, in conditions which resembled, according to one eyewitness 'a mexican slaughterhouse', had it coming to them - as they hadn't learned the fundamental rule of protest in Gasparri's Chinese style democracy - the only protest allowed is a meaningless protest.

1) "Il gesto dell'atleta tedesca Imke Duplitzer, che ha annunciato di non prendere parte alla cerimonia inaugurale dei Giochi per protesta contro il mancato rispetto dei diritti umani in Cina, sia da stimolo per tutti gli atleti, compresi quelli italiani», ha dichiarato Gasparri. «Si tratta- aggiunge- di un gesto simbolico, che dovrebbe invitare tutti a riflettere su quei principi fondamentali, Pace, Libertà e Democrazia, che non possono essere messi in secondo piano. Anche con queste manifestazioni di dissenso, come già avvenuto in passato, si può esprimere sostegno e solidarietà alle popolazioni che vedono soffocata la propria libertà." - Cerimonia inaugurale. strappo di Gasparri - Corriere della Sera, 5/08/2008

2) «La manifestazione di Firenze è andata meglio di quella di Genova perchè i manifestanti violenti che volevano mettere a ferro e fuoco la città, hanno capito che lo Stato non scherza» In conversation on La 7 Omnibus, as reported by Il Messagero.

This week, in an extraordinary lesson on Democracy - one best delivered to the shameful Irish electorate who so scurrily abused their voting rights recently - the Italian Senate voted unanimously to ratify the Lisbon treaty. Unanimously - not one vote against, or one abstention. That's democracy in action for you (and a minor miracle, given the usual scuffles in parliament)!

The same parliament voted during the week to give the four highest state officials immunity from prosecution - saving Berlusconi from a probable guilty sentence in his impending corruption case. The measure has been widely described as unconstitutional (a similar measure introduced by Berluska back in 2003 was declared unconstitutional by the constitutional court). But in complex issues like this, our elected officials know best.

The same parliament has been voting to approve various measures by interior minister Roberto Maroni, including the mandatory fingerprinting of gypsy children. The EU suggest it's racism in action - what would they know about such complex matters. Best for the elected officials to deal with it, though they neglected to mention it during election campaigning.

There's much to be learned about democracy here.

As if the film were some coded message to the law, order, and vigilantes brigade often associated with Maroni's lega party, Nolan's film is entitled in Italian 'il cavaliere oscuro' - Berlusconi has always been jokingly refered to as 'il cavaliere'. Ironically the head of the mafia in the film is called Maroni.

Maroni, in interview, though, is quick to dismiss any parallels between the film and modern-day Italy: "The beauty of the Joker is that you can see him, and fight him. What preoccupies me, though, is invisible crime, that which provokes sympathy and which doesn't arouse a unanimously negative reaction".

I couldn't agree more with the jazz-playing leading light of the lega - though perhaps with different villains in mind. Maroni's invisible enemies are not the various members of parliament that have been charged with corruption and links to the mafia, but rather gypsy children who, along with the adults, are currently being forced to give fingerprint samples to the authorities.

Final batpoint - have a look at the logo for the new film - could it sum up Berluska's Italy better?

While Clinton's presidency was hampered by his non-sex sex with Lewinsky, allegations surfacing regarding a similar oral intervention, this time performed by one of Berlusconi's 'Babe' ministers on the Premier himself, look likely to strengthen Berluska's parliamentary position rather than hamper it.

The story goes like this.

On Tuesday evening a large demonstration was held in Rome's Piazza Navona to protest against a raft of controversial legislation being introduced by Berlusconi's government (5 unconstitutional laws in one month, a record as journalist Marco Travaglio pointed out to the demonstration).

The newspapers yesterday, without exception, ran with stories about how the demonstration had attacked Carfagna (and also President Napolitano, and leader of the opposition Walter Veltroni). Carfagna has launched a libel suit against Guzzanti, and many of that beleaguered minority, the female members of parliament, have sent messages of support to Carfagna.

What was absent from the newspapers and the expressions of solidarity was any examination of the substance and import behind the allegations.

A common reaction was published by Articolo 21, an association dedicated to the freedom of the press and notably anti-Berlusconi. Writing about Guzzanti's comments, Giorgio Santelli had this to say:

"The attack on Minister Carfagna was gratuitous, vulgar, chauvinist, and seems defamatory, based on false interceptions and on a theme that has nothing to do with the political life of the country "

An indignation mirrored by the press and by the main opposition party the Partito Democratico. An indignation that will help keep Walter Veltroni's party off the hook when they, probably, support the government when various laws are voted on this week in parliament, including the so called 'Lodo Alfano' which attempts, once again, to introduce immunity from prosecution for the four highest office-holders in the Republic (including Berlusconi who, it seems, is about to have a guilty verdict returned in one of his numerous trials).

Poorly timed, perhaps, but Guzzanti's comments were anything but gratuitous. The demonstration on Tuesday was against the topsy-turvy culture that Berlusconismo proposes - where those on trial decide the rules by which the trial may proceed, for example. The allegations surrounding Berlusconi and Carfagna are not a vulgar intrusion into the bedroom of two irrelevant political actors. The substance of the allegation is that the Minister for equal opportunities, prior to getting the post, had sex with her boss.

In a country which has amongst the lowest rates of female employment in Europe, and perhaps not coincidentally one of the lowest birth-rates too, the woman charged with ensuring fairness in the workplace may be engaged in an affair with her boss - could it be more politically relevant?

All parties in the last election placed women's participation in politics as a priority (without actually doing anything about it in terms of candidates proposed), and this is the response.

Carfagna has come in for some chauvinist snipes from the world's media since her announcement as minister - with headlines like 'Italy's Sexy Minister' being commonplace (with scarce mention of the fact that the 'former-showgirl' also has a degree in Law)- but Guzzanti's critics are misguided in placing her comments in the same light. While the world's press focussed on her looks, rather than ability, Guzzanti is repeating allegations that have a direct bearing on her suitability for the job. In fact, Guzzanti's attack was on Berlusconi and his nomination of a woman he has allegedly had sexual relations with to a position in government. If it's true, then it's a sordid abuse of power, and very much a feminist issue. Whether Carfagna can be cast in the light of victim is open to debate, but the whole issue is political, public, and hugely important.

Guzzanti's timing was poor, but her comments and analysis were anything but.

1)"E' del tutto gratuito, sguaiato, maschilista e dal sapore diffamatorio l'attacco al Ministro Carfagna, sulla base di false intercettazioni e su un tema che non avrebbe nemmeno nulla a che vedere con la vita politica del Paese. " In 100mila per dire no a Berlusconi ma tre cafonate nascondono i veri temi della protesta- Giorgio Santelli, Articolo 21

Giordano Bruno Guerri, self-declared 'anti-modernist', blogger and journalist with il giornale, steps into the fray with a none-too-convincing argument on his blog.

On face value there seems to be some sense in the footballing analogy, and particularly so in Italy - indeed, while in other countries the rejection of the Lisbon treaty made the top headlines, in Italy it was, albeit temporarily, sidelined by the important discussions as to whether Luca Toni's goal against Romania was really off-side. Experts were called to voice their opinions on the main evening news, before turning to the 'international news' that was Lisbon's downfall.

There are a couple of points to make, though, considering for a moment football as sufficiently robust to balance on its shoulders arguments about cultural identity.

The first is that football fandom, in terms of identity, naturally gains power the more local it becomes. For example, the refusal of Francesco Totti and Alessandro Nesta, two giants of Italian football, to continue playing for the national team has, on the whole, been respected because fans of their clubs have been vociferious in their support. For AS Roma fans it's more important that Totti prolong his career playing for the club, rather than risking injury with the national team.

The second point, seemingly contradictory to the first, is that nothing succeeds like success. The two most popular clubs in Italy are, without a doubt, Juventus fc and Inter Milan - both of which have a huge fanbase, the majority of which are not based in their home towns (indeed, both clubs boast an impressive fanbase outside of Italy). Football fandom, in many cases, becomes an easily acquired badge of identity that has little to do with centuries of local culture, and everything to do with buying the latest away-strip from the club plc.

International football championships will always be exciting, based on local rivalries. But who's to say that a European team playing against a Latin American side wouldn't provoke similar passions in the globalised world. Build it and they will come, etc.

Football aside, Italy doesn't lend itself well to the arguments that the 'people' favour the national over the European state, for the simple reason that there is - perhaps now more than at any time since the finish of the second world war - an ongoing debate over Italian national identity. Amongst the powerbrokers of the current government are two movements seeking autonomy from the Italian state - the lega nord and the Sicilian movement for autonomy. Lega members have taken to wearing 'Padania is not Italy' t-shirts, and presumably have thus found little to cheer about with Italy's qualification for the quarter-finals of the Euro 2008 championships.

Giordano Bruno Guerri's main argument, that the people in individual countries view the quickening pace of the European project with little affection may well be true, but not because they are opposed to assuming a European identity. Ask most of the Irish voters who opposed the Lisbon treaty if they consider themselves as Europeans, and this monkey bets they would answer yes. Motivations for rejecting the treaty are both as simple and complex as the reasons for choosing a team to support - and don't have to revolve simply around a dogged determination to retain national identity above all else.

All this is to say that GBG's arguments are about as convincing as the Luca Toni - Simone Perrotta combination up front, i.e not very (particularly when amongst GBG's grievances with the EU is that it might regulate what constitutes sexual harassment, supposing that it's identical from Trapani to Stockholm).

Meanwhile, there's an interesting post from the Centre for the Study of Wider Europe's director Dr John O'Brennan (who has written a number of articles in the past for Three Monkeys Online), who suggests that one of the things taken for granted by the international press regarding Ireland's referendum on the lisbon treaty, the fact that Ireland legally had to hold a referendum to ratify the treaty, is not true. You can read the post here

Ex President of the EU Commission Romano Prodi pulled no punches: "We can't go on with the unanimous vote in a Union of 27 countries, and let's stop saying that the provlems come from the new states that entered in 2004 with enlargement. The biggest problems have always come from the old members. From Great Britain and Ireland, which aside from anything else has had huge advanteges from its membership. [...] I'm particularly pained that the no came from a people that more than any other has benefited from membership of the EU and has had high growth rates and economic assistance without parallel"[1].

Berlusconi has been understandably more circumspect in his reaction to the no vote, taking the opportunity to call on the heads of France, Germany and Britain to discuss how to surpass the crisis.

Because the truth of the matter is that, while officially the Italians - along with most other European countries - are reproaching the .5% of the EU electorate for their audacity, behind the scenes the no-vote opens up both opportunities and risks for Berlusconi's government.

On the one hand the opportunities are clear. A show of support is, it would seem, needed to move the EU project forward, and Berlusconi's government is more than willing to provide it. The price may be a softening of criticism from the EU towards Berlusconi's policies.

Two* issues spring readily to mind. The first, his spending policy, threatens a worrying increase in Italy's budget deficit. In the lifetime of his previous administration (from 2001-2006) Berlusconi's finance ministers were repeatedly rebuked and threatened by Brussels for running a deficit. Fundamental to his government's win in the last election was the promise of reduced taxes and various large-scale projects (the bridge over the straits of Messina, for example) - all of which put his government on a crash-course collision with the EU.

Second, but related, is the Alitalia crisis. A major election issue, Berlusconi personally intervened to help scupper a buyout deal from Air France to save the national airline. The cost of this has been various bridging loans from the Government to the airline, in defiance of EU competition regulations (at least according to competitors like British Airways and Ryanair).

Aside from negotiating over these issues, it may also provide an opportunity for the last of George Bush's three main Iraq-war allies remaining in power to shape EU foreign policy. Indeed, Berlusconi's immediate comment on the rejection of Lisbon was "Europe shouldn't be a bureaucratic organisation. It should have though, a common foreign policy with a high profile".

The opportunities are there to be grasped, but this new and uncertain phase of European politics, ushered in by the Irish no vote, also brings substantial risk for Berlusconi's government. Risk because Italy has yet to ratify the treaty.

It's highly unlikely that the Italian parliament would, should the process continue, fail to ratify the treaty - given that the opposition PD party are fully behind a yes vote. The mote in the eye, though, is the Lega Nord, the determining coalition partner.

Leading Lega minister Roberto Calderoli, with his trademark tact, commented 'By now this chapter is closed. The treaty won't come into effect. But if somone thinks of going ahead with the ratification process, they should know that they won't have our vote". In fact, Calderoli went as far as invoking that dreaded curse, a referendum (while Italy is not obliged to ratify the treaty via referendum, there does appear to be a legal possibility for the lega to seek a consultative referendum).

The Lega have already run into difficulties with Berlusconi - for example over his position regarding their proposal to make illegal immigration a criminal offence. The Lega have, in the past, brought down Berlusconi (leading him to declare he'd never enter into government with them again). If they're looking for an opportunity to humble Berluska, there could be hardly be a more emblematic issue on which to do so - a small party stading up to the Eurocrats.

There's going to be a fair amount of horse-trading going on to move the Lisbon treaty forward, and it's by no-means simply an Irish affair.

* There are various other issues, perhaps less important on the national/international stage, but hugely important to Berlusconi's business interests, not least of which is the ongoing 'Rete 4' problem. Various rulings, both from the Italian court of final appeal, and from the EU courts have ruled that Berlusconi's third national tv channel Rete 4 was unfairly awarded its broadcasting frequencies, and should thus be forced off the national airwaves onto satelite broadcasting (with an associated loss of advertising revenue). Failure to do so implies massive fines. A situation that is hard to put in a positive light to the electorate who end up paying the bill.

[1] Non si puo' andare avanti con il voto all'unanimita' in una Unione a 27 [...] E semttiamola did dire che i problemi vengone dagli stati nuovi quelli entrati nel 2004 con l'allargamento. I guai piu grossi sono sempre arrivati dai vecchi. Dalla Gran Bretagna e dall'Irlanda, che fra l'altro ha avuto vantaggi enormi dall'adesione. [...] Sono molot addolorato perche' il no viene da un popolo che piu' di ogni altro ha goduto i vantaggi dell'adesione alla Ue e ha avuto tassi di sviluppo elevatissimi e aiuti economici che non hanno confronti" - Prodi: " Basta con i veti chi non ci sta esca dall'Ue - La Repubblica 14/06/2008

[2]"Ne' si puo' pensare che la decisione di poco piu' della meta' degli elettori di un paese che rappresenta meno dell'1% della popolazione dell'Unione possa arrestare l'indispensabile ed oramai non piu' procrastinabile processo di riforma" - President Giorgio Napolitano - La Lega esulta e imbarazza il governo - La Repubblica 14/-6/2008

[3] "Non deve essere un'organizzazione burocratica [...] deve avere una politica estera comune di alto profilo" - Silvio Berlusconi - La Repubblica 14/06/2008

[4] "Oramai questo capitolo e' chiuso . Il Trattato non entrera' in vigore. Ma se qualcuno pensa comunque di procedere con la ratifica, allora sappiate che non ci sara' il nostro voto" - Roberto Calderoli - La Repubblica 14/06/2008

The film takes a look at the neo-nazi scene in Italy, focussing in particular on a number of bands that produce 'rock identitario' or 'identity rock' the hallmark of which appears to be angry slogans, ham-fisted guitarists, and singers determined to waver out of tune.

The film has effectively been kept out of the cinemas thanks to the legal threats of Forza Nuova, a fringe right-wing party featured heavily in the documentary. Roberto Fiore, leader of Forza Nuova, has recently been shunted into the European Parliament, whose members had this to say about him. In many countries a bit of controversy like this would have a film distributor smiling, guaranteed extra seat sales through the publicity generated. Discretion, though, is perhaps understandable, given that the film-maker is probably not on the list of this current government's favourite directors - amongst his films is an expose on the Lega Nord Camice Verde (Greenshirts).

Fiore, and the ideology of Forza Nuova are well worth discussing, but at a later date. What struck me most about NaziRock was primarily the absurdity of the identity at the heart of this 'identity rock'.

Go to google.it and do a search for Hobbit, and rather than finding Tolkien's buccolic flat-footed dwarves, you'll find the #1 result is for a band from Peruggia singing songs like 'Ragazzo dell'Europa' (Boy from Europe) and 'Cuore Nero' (black heart - Mussolini's fascists were the blackshirts). Instead of Bilbo Baggins, you'll get anti-immigration neo-fascists.

It says it all though, doesn't it? One of the most popular Italian groups tied to an ideology that dictates racial purity and the defence of local culture can find no more apt name for themselves than that of a fictitious (and comic) race created by an English writer. Whilst they whinge about globalisation, they take their name from a global brand.

The fascist obsession with race was always a strange one, but it takes on another comic turn when the self-image you project is not that of a roman legionary or a blonde-haired stormtrooper, but that of a hairy-footed dwarf.

Like the Italian skinheads that talk about preserving Italian culture whilst dressed in regulation skinhead shirt - a Ben Sherman one from England.

What they don't seem to realise is how close they are, for their Northern European racist 'kamerate', to the North African immigrants they seek to expel from society.

NaziRock is an important film that should be seen in Italy, and throughout Europe. The ideology it examines, though, is pure spinal tap.

Industrialists in the north have consistently paid to have their waste disposed of, without asking too many questions. Out of sight, out of mind. The outfits run by the Camora for this purpose can afford to offer rock-bottom prices for their service because they have no health and safety regulations to follow in the disposal of this waste. It's enough that they can bring it down south, and scatter it amongst the mountains of uncollected domestic rubbish.

In terms of profits, it's been estimated that the 'ecomafia' brings in up to 23 billion euro (legambiente report Ecomafia 2007)^[1].

In terms of danger, the combination of undisposed 'normal' waste, combined with industrial and toxic waste has coincided with elevated rates of cancer in affected towns in Campania. Overall there's a 4% higher risk of dying of cancer in this region, while for certain specific types of cancer affecting the lungs and the liver the increased risk goes up to 9% and 29% respectively^[2].

In practical terms, the Camora has created a free-trade zone in the Campania, where their brand of private enterprise offers goods and services at cut-throat prices. Goods and services that are essential to the smooth functioning of Northern Italy's industry.

Is a state that's unable, or unwilling, to control the safe disposal of toxic waste within its territory the best placed to hastily develop Nuclear reactors? A question that none of the major political parties has asked, given that all of them have advocated the re-opening of Italy's long-shelved nuclear program.

This would also allow the Italian government to sidestep the uncomfortable issue that Italians overwhelmingly voted against having a nuclear program back in a referendum held in 1987. Legally the government can, with a majority, over-ride the referendum's result (as they did with electoral legislation), but the question is will they have sufficient authority and support to push through a building plan for a reactor. The Napoli refuse 'emergency' has, handily, provided them with the excuse to push through legislation which provides for heavy-handed police and army intervention in sensitive areas like landfill and waste-incinerator sites to physically prevent civil disobedience protests.

It's not the first time that Italy has turned to the under-developed east with regard to its nuclear ambitions. Italy's main energy company ENEL, in 2005 acquired 66% of Slovakian utility company Slovenske Elektrarne, and appears intent - along with the Slovakian government - to complete the construction of two soviet-era reactors, the completion of which has long been stalled. Similar reactors planned for construction in East Germany were cancelled after the re-unification of Germany, as they failed to meet safety standards.

There's one simple question to be answered. If nuclear power is so safe, and economically viable, why is it that there's a consistent need to turn to non-eu states that are economically under-developed to build them?

Turning a blind eye to safety (and economic viability) regarding the development of nuclear in Italy - or by proxy, through Albania and the like - may provide a quick and efficient short-term solution to some of Italy's power needs. It's the Napoli solution.

^[1] Legambiente Ecomafia report - taken from Kataweb news
^[2] Interview cafeblog 23/02/2008
^[3[ Berisha - siamo pronti a costruire le centrali nucleare per l'italia - Corriere della sera 29/05/2008
^[4] Science or fiction - is there a future for nuclear energy?

It looks set to be a highly popular move, alongside the abolition of ICI (a property tax) for single-home owners. It will, in effect, put an extra wad of cash into the pockets of many normal families struggling with that brutal combination of high-prices and low-wages.

Showing, it would seem, admirable social conscience the ABI approved the agreement unanimously. President of the ABI, Corrado Faissola said:

"The convention is the first confirmation of the undertaking we've announced to the Government to contribute to the recovery of the country and its economy"

Corrado, for example, gave the following figures:

"The convention could apply to around 1,250,000 families. Considering a twenty-year mortgage of 80,000 euro, the reduction in cost envisioned would amount to about 850 euro annually"

Here the key word is 'esborso', translated as cost (or disbursement) - a difficult technical term, perhaps. The media thus, obligingly, changed it to the easier-on-the-ear 'savings'('risparmi').So, for example, on the TGFin site we get the following:

"Based on the calculations of the ABI, whose committee approved the agreement unanimously, the saving for a twenty-year mortgage of 80,000 euro could be around 850 euros a year."

A small transformation for the media, a giant feelgood factor for the public. Changing an annual reduction of costs into savings is a good trick, but ultimately not one that is envisaged by our socially-conscious bankers or Minister Tremonti.

Mortgage holders who can avail of the offer will see their currently variable-rate mortgage converted into a fixed-rate, using as the rate the average from 2006 (before the sharp rise in variable rates, caused by various factors including the sub-prime mortgage problem). So far, so good. Were it to be as simple as that, then obviously there would be significant savings to home-owners. The key, though, is that should rates rise further, the duration of the mortgage will increase until all is paid off.

So you pay less annually, but in all likelihood for more years than you had bargained for. Reasonable, perhaps, given successive governments' conviction that the average retirement age needs to be extended.

It's a particularly inventive agreement that favours both Tremonti and the banks. Tremonti gets the kudos for putting money into the hands of families. People will, in the short term, see a real improvement in their purchasing power. It's a cash injection that may also help Italy's troubled economy. The banks, meanwhile, get a PR coup that takes some of the heat off growing criticism at their seemingly anti-competitive measures.

You see, the previous government introduced a number of liberal reforms that touched on the banks, including one that made it illegal for banks to impose charges on customers wishing to change their mortgage provider. In theory, after the legislation introduced by Minister Bersani, one could change your mortgage to whoever provides the best terms - without penalties. In reality the banks are still imposing various fees on anyone wishing to switch banks.

Tremonti's deal will do nothing to change the Italian banking system (or their bottom line). It will do nothing to reduce the long-term mortgage crisis building in Italy (as elsewhere in Europe). It will, though, put some money in the hands of normal voters - and that, my friends, is another clear cut example of why people vote for Berlusconi.

More than trasformismo, it brings to mind Yeats:

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity"

1)"La Convenzione è la prima
conferma – ha concluso Faissola – dell’impegno fattivo che abbiamo annunciato al Governo per
contribuire alla ripresa del Paese e della sua economia". - Mutui: pronta bozza Convenzione ABI-Economia per le famiglie in difficoltà, ABI
2) "La Convenzione potrebbe riguardare circa 1.250.000 famiglie. Considerando un mutuo
ventennale di 80.000 euro, il minor esborso previsto ammonterebbe a circa 850 euro su base" - ibid.
3)"In base ai calcoli dell'Abi, il cui comitato esecutivo ha approvato all'unanimità l'intesa, il risparmio per un mutuo di 80mila euro a 20 anni potrebbe essere di 850 euro l'anno. " TGFin (Mutui più leggeri, risparmi di 850 euro)

On the 14th of may, at the first sitting of the newly elected parliament, Cicchitto (who in 1981 admitted to being a member of the Masonic Lodge P2), speaking for the motion to elect Berlusconi Prime Minister (a foregone conclusion) incanted a solemn rite:

"I can say with certainty, listening to the debate in this parliament, that we find ourselves in a new political phase in which, while before civil war, cold war and strategic pacts were ambiguosly intermingled, now we seek to confront each other in a clear and transparent way between majority and oppostion, in a normal encounter, without pact-building, but without direct attacks and demonisation"[emphasis added]⁽¹⁾

Tricky things demons, though. No sooner have you cleared up one, and it skips merrily into some other corporeal form.

As Cicchitto spoke to parliament, further south in Napoli the remains of a Gypsy camp, burned by angry locals, were still smouldering. Firefighters had been booed when they tried to put out flames. The camps had been hastily abandoned prior to the burning meaning.

The anger of locals in the Ponticelli district took shape as news broke that a 16 year old 'Roma' had walked/broke into an appartment and had been caught red-handed trying to steal a baby. Classic demonic behaviour this - and as the experts over the centuries have always stressed, the best way to fight infernal beings is with fire.

Just days before, another case of presumable demonic possesion overtook noted journalist Marco Travaglio, as he spoke ill, on prime-time television, of current Senate leader Renato Schiffani. Travaglio suggested that the current #2 of the Italian Republic (the senate leader takes over the presidency of the Republic, should anything happen to the current President) had associated with mafiosi in the past (Schiffani founded a firm that had amongst its shareholders Nino Mandalà, who would later be convicted for mafia offences, being described as the 'boss' of the town of Villabate). Accusations that have been published for some time by both Travaglio and other journalists - indeed Schifani sued journalist Marco Lillo in 2002 for similar accusations, only to have his case thrown out in 2007 as the judge held the article in question to be substantially true⁽²⁾. Cue a political uproar. Maurizio Gasparri of the former post-fascist party Alleanza Nazionale and one-time Minister of Communications , threatened there would be 'political consequences'. In short, a political outcry for an exorcism in RAI, the state broadcaster. An exorcism which would take the form of banning Travaglio.

Would that all demons were as easily exorcised as the one tarnishing Berlusconi's name. Despite his ever-present conflicts of interest, charges of corruption, and poor sense of humour*, all it took was a spirit of goodwill on the part of the opposition, led by Walter Veltroni (the political equivalent of a sprinkling of holy water), and the man who was a serious threat to democracy suddenly becomes the great statesman.

It will prove harder to exorcise the demons seen in Travaglio or amonst the Roma gypsies - not least because, despite the fact that every man on the street (or at least those that watch the 'news') knows their evil deeds, the facts stubbornly refuse to back up the accusations against them.

Travaglio repeated an accusation that is present in a number of published books - none of which have, to the best of this Monkey's knowledge - been subject to legal action from Schifani. Schifani has not made any public appearances to respond to the accusations. Rightly politicians, and editors of some of the main newspapers have concentrated not on the substance of the allegations, but rather on the intent of Travaglio, because as any demonologist worth his salt will tell you, intent is everything when it comes to demons.

More disturbing are the elements surrounding the case of the Roma kidnapping in Napoli. Despite the fact that, again, every man on the street knows that they have a long history of stealing children, thus far no-one seems to be able to provide any proof of this. Every time a child goes missing in Italy the alert goes up, and yet the closest they've come to proof was a case a number of years ago when a young girl (denise) was kidnapped from Sicily and later apparently spotted and photographed in a gypsy camp in Northern Italy. The newspapers and televsion were quick to spread the good news, that finally proof had been found for what had long been suspected - that gypsies steal babies (like witches, and the Jews before them). They were slower to later reveal that the child identified was actually a boy, and the son of a Roma family.

The case in Napoli has proven particularly frustrating - though thankfully the newspapers have kept most of the ambiguity absent fromt their reports. Contradictions brought to light by human rights group Everyone simply served to muddy the waters when every journalist, and government minister, knew what had taken place - to the point where current Interior Minister Maroni, on the nightly news, put the camp burnings into context for the man on the street:

"We need to look after Italian citizens. The accusations made, that people threw molotovs into the gypsy camps are serious and supported, and obviously it's something that's wrong, but it's worth remembering the crimes committed, in particular the attempted kidnapping of a six-month old infant" ⁽³⁾⁾

Absent in particular amidst all this torch-waving were the questions surrounding the involvment of organised crime in the camp burnings, and the very significant fact that the land in question is due for massive redevelopment funding - provided work starts in the coming months.

The lord works in mysterious ways it's true, and the devil is in the details.

# This monkey would be lying if he said he didn't chuckle every now and then thanks to Silvio. It's unlikely, though, that russian journalist Natalia Melikova saw the joke when Berlusconi mimed a shooting in response to her difficult questio to buddy Vladimir Putin.
1)"Dico che certamente, ascoltando il dibattito in questo Parlamento, ci troviamo in una nuova fase politica nella quale, mentre prima si intrecciavano ambiguamente guerra civile fredda e consociativismo, adesso cerchiamo di confrontarci in modo limpido e trasparente tra maggioranza e opposizione, in un confronto normale, senza consociativismi, ma senza scontri frontali e senza demonizzazioni." - As published on Hon. Cicchitto's site (http://www.fabriziocicchitto.it/html/argoblog.asp?IDa=180&IDu=3)
2)Su schifani ho raccontato solo fatti - Marco Travaglio, Repubblica 14/05/2008
3) "Dobbiamo intervenire per tutelare i cittadini italiani. Le accuse che sono fatte a chi e' andato a buttare le molotov nei campi rom sono accuse fondate e non si deve fare naturalmente, pero non va dimenticato cio che e' stato compiuto, i reati, in particolare il tentativo di sequestro di un neonato di sei mesi" - TG1 20/05/2008

A very different Verona, though, came to light in the Italian press during the week as news broke that Nicola Tommasoli, a 29 year old, had died in intensive care, a couple of days after being savagely beaten on the streets of the city by five neo-nazis after refusing to give them a cigarette.

It's difficult to suggest that there were political motives for the murder - more likely, it seems, it was simply a case of clear-cut thuggery, a group of young men, with a history of violence behind them, acting like pack animals.

And yet the case raises serious political questions - questions that are decidedly uncomfortable for the 'law and order' party the Lega Nord, who increased their vote dramatically during the recent elections partly thanks to their promise get tough on crime.

Verona, you see, apart from being the city of Romeo and Juliet, open-air Opera, and a thriving tourist trade, is also one of the strongholds of the Lega. Current mayor, Flavio Tosi, who won the 2007 Mayoral election with over 60% of the vote, ran a campaign focussed almost entirely on 'security' issues, declaring "in this city there will be no space for those that don't want to integrate and for those who don't respect our laws".

The five youths who beat Tommasoli to death, it seems, had been given plenty of space to roam the city streets. Two of the five, Federico Perini e Nicolò Veneri, had already been involved in violent incidents and under anti-hooligan legislation were both obliged to present themselves at the local police station whenever local team Hellas Verona played. Raffaele Dalle Donne, another of those involved, was under investigation for violation of the Mancino law against incitement to racial hatred (he had, amongst other things, complained when a lecture was arranged at his school on the Holocaust).

Then again, accusations of racial hatred put Dalle Donne in good company, given that Verona's law and order Mayor Tosi himself has also, in the past, been charged with violating the Mancino law (he was cleared, although his election campaign was described as openly racist).

And as journalists delved further into the story, stories of regular beatings on the streets of Verona started coming to light - attacks on immigrants, gays, and anyone deemed 'different'. The question, reasonably, then, is what role has the ultra-right political leadership had in the growth of these attacks? At best Tosi's administration seems to have been ineffectual at stopping them, at worst there are legitimate fears that some in the administration see violence against gays, immigrants, and left-wing students as legitimate.

Tosi has, according to analysts, been spearheading a political experiment that, thus far, has reaped massive benefits, uniting a conservative ultra-catholic vote alongside the more extreme elements of the right, including neo-fascists and neo-nazis. The mayor participated in December of last year in an event organised by the Veneto Fronte Skinhead (a 'cultural' association that has promoted concerts by various neo nazi bands including No Remorse, authors of the charming song 'Final Solution'). Later, after the event, three members of Italy's air corp were threatened and attacked outside a bar in the centre of Verona, for being 'terrone' or southerners - their attackers were identified as participants in the earlier event.

In the wake, last year, of the rape and murder of a middle aged woman on the outskirts of Rome by a Romanian vagabond, emergency legislation was introduced by Romano Prodi's government to allow for mass expulsions of Romanians.

In the wake of the brutal murder of Tommasoli in Verona no emergency legislation seems necessary. Life will go on as normal, it seems, for the racist thugs who roam the streets of Verona.

City of love me arse.

Of course, Luxembourg didn't get to taste victory herself (and it's easy to argue that her brand of revolutionary socialism is still waiting), as she wound up shot and her body dumped in Berlin's Landwehr canal. It's not, thankfully, a fate facing Veltroni, or his failed PD candidate Rutelli, but the first right-wing victory in Rome in over 14 years should have some political fallout.

Rutelli, former leader of the former Margharita (daisy) party - which has now merged with the former DS to make up Veltroni's 'new' party - became the darling of the left when he defeated heavyweight post-fascist Gianfranco Fini for the job of Mayor of Rome back in 1994. Since then his major achievements have been to lose in a head-to-head with Berlusconi in 2001's general election, and to have been one of the leading figures in Prodi's lacklustre coalition that failed to win a signifacnt majority against Berlusconi in 2006, despite widespread dissatisfaction with the outgoing government.

He's also managed to get himself involved in a farcical relaunch of Italy on the global tourist market, costing millions and yielding precious few results - apart from the chuckles provided by an ill-advised ad where Rutelli pleaded, borat-style, with english speaking tourists to 'veeseet my cantry'.

In short, his last major political success was over a decade ago, and yet Veltroni's PD's saw him as a safe-bet for the hugely important Rome position. Alemanno's victory puts the final jack-booted stamp onto the prevailing notion that Italy has swung to the right. If anything, though, it's veered sharply away from a dangerously incompetent left-wing leadership.

There are various factors in Rutelli's defeat, including a highly probable abstention by serious left-wing voters still enraged by Veltroni's decision to campaign against his former left-wing coalition partners the Sinistra Arcobaleno (Greens and Comunists allied) - a decision which led to the decimation of the latter at the polls, while not preventing a Berlusconi victory. Add to that various convenient security scare stories (there were a number of hugely-reported rapes in Rome over the last ten days), which will always be to the right's advantage, and the going was always going to be tough for Rutelli.

It's hard, though, to disagree with journalist Peter Gomez's assesment that this is the best thing that could happen to the left in Italy at this moment. The vote, at the end of the day, can only be read one way: a high profile candidate hand-picked by the PD's failed to convince, despite having all the advantage. Romans didn't vote for Rutelli because they didn't like him as a candidate, plain and simple - a theory backed up by the fact that in the provincial elections the PD candidate Zingaretti won comfortably.

Now is the time for the various high-profile lefties like Rutelli, who have more than a decade's worth of a dismal record, to quietly depart the scene. A new party isn't worth a thing without new ideas and, crucially, new faces.

Over 500,000 people in one day queued up to sign a petition calling for three specific referenda to change the way information is controlled in Italy.

A brief outline of the referenda:
1) The abolition of the order of journalists - a professional body with strict entry requirements, and direct successor to the body set up by Mussolini in 1925 in order to regulate and control who is permitted to work in journalism.
2) The abolition of state subsidies to the print-press. Under current legislation a horde of Italy's daily newspapers recieve taxpayers money, supposedly to support plurality of information. In the worst case scenario this leads to party newspapers spewing official lines. At best it subsidises commercial concerns.
3) The abolition of the controversial Gasparri law regulating television communication, which amongst other things allowed for the legal broadcasting of Rete 4, Berlusconi's third channel and home to some of the strangest propoganda seen since Ceaucescu's Romania.

And the lead stories on RAI 1, the national state broadcaster for the evening of the 25th? Their first headline was that the world is facing global food shortages - a story that has been in the press for over a week at this stage. The second, the celebration of liberation day, including various declarations from politicians left, right and centre (or should that read right, right and centre-right) - an important part of the day's news admittedly, though strange that no mention was made of the fact that Berlusconi chose precisely liberation day to meet up with one of his party's self-professed fascists Ciarrapico. On and on the news went, but no mention that over a half a million Italians are sick to the teeth of piss-poor politically controlled journalism.

One would scarcely have expected TG editor Gianni Riotta to take a favourable line towards the second Vaffa day organised by Beppe Grillo, this time with journalists not politicians in its sight. That he, and the various other gatekeepers of tv journalism, chose to simply ignore the event is, though, absurd. As if word of the event and the issues involved can be neatly swept under the rug.

And the same RAI will be looking for support, proudly proclaiming its dubious public broadcasting value when it comes under attack, as it surely will, from Berlusconi's mob during the lifetime of the next parliament. This monkey, for one, will not be taking to the streets to defend it - given that all it offers in the way of public broadcasting is a different brand of reality show. Berlusconi offers Big Brother on his Canal Cinque channel, while RAI run X-factor on their frequencies.

The newspapers are scarcely much better. The Corriere della Sera had a snide piece, focussing mainly on the main demonstration in Torino, where 50,000 people gathered to hear Grillo (50,000 is scarcely a trifle, but sounds pleasingly more marginal than two million). No analysis of the proposals calling for reform, and significantly no mention of the estimated 13 million euros of taxpayers money that goes annually to its publishers the RCS group.

Yet another shameful moment for Italian journalism - and not one that can be blamed on Berluska.

Luckily for Berlusconi his new government won't take office officially until the end of the month, meaning Berluska will be free of official engagements celebrating liberation day. Actually, it makes not a blind bit of difference, given that during his various terms of office over the last fifteen years he has steadfastly ignored what is, arguably, the most important national festival.

But it's not just neo-fascists like Berluska that steer clear of the 'resistance'. After decades of cold-war politics, where apologists explained the complex and respectable nature of fascism - allowing former ministers and dedicated followers of fascim like Giorgio Almirante to participate actively in political life (to be fair to Almirante, he did accept Italian democracy - in the 1970s!!) - the 'resistance' suffered the direct opposite. A highly-complex movement, made up of comunists, anarchists, nationalists, monarchists, catholics, feminists, farmhands, and factory workers - to list just a few of the different categories - had its complexity glossed over, as it became effectively colonised by a strident left-wing which had effectively been shunted out of power in post-war Italy.

Thankfully there are some serious historians out there researching and publishing work that reflects the complexities of the period - a period in which over 40,000 Italian partisans were killed, and in which over 15,000 civilians were killed by Nazi and Italian fascist reprisals.

If you want to learn more about the Italian resistance, and the complex battle over official memory in post-war Italy, then treat yourself to Alessandro Portelli's brilliant book The order has been carried out: History, Memory and Meaning of a Nazi Massacre in Rome. Ostensibly about the infamous 'fosse ardeatine' massacre carried out by the Nazis in reprisal for a partisan attack, the book has a much larger scope examining the origins of the resistance in Rome, post-war attitudes to it, and the strange process that has culminated in the rehabilitation of fascism at the expense of the resistance freedom fighters.