“Another attack in Nassiriya has refocussed the attention of the media, of politicians, and thus of public opinion on our military missions abroad. In these sad and difficult occasions there are set patterns of communication and reaction that have become rituals: bombastic, emotional and participatory, but in the end self-serving. Arid and sterile, from which […]
“There’s a fact that until now has been rarely considered. The Da Vinci Code came out in 2000, but had its greatest success in 2002 at a time of strong friction between the White House and the Vatican, opposed to the impending attack on Iraq. […] In those days, in the US, the scandal of […]
One aged man, grey and anonymous, stands watching pomp and ceremony as he is conferred with the title of head of State. Change the soundtrack and uniforms and it could be either the Kremlin or the Vatican. Instead it’s the Quirinale, the Italian Presidential palace, and the greyish figure is Italy’s newly inaugurated 11th President. […]
Tony Blair looking towards his favourite mediterranean holiday destination this week would, no-doubt, feel hard-done-by. While the UK and international press had a field day when Blair’s bully boys security forced 82 year old Walter Wolfgang out of the Labour party conference last year, hardly an eyelid is batted at the moment as an Italian […]
So, another week passes and impasse supposedly reigns in the political sphere in Italy. Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled, in accordance with electoral procedure, on the official results of the Election. It came as no surprise to anyone (not even Berluska) that, after a week of examining contested ballot papers, the result of the election […]
The View from Bologna (Romano Prodi’s home town) has been quiet this week, in the wake of the Italian general elections. Quiet for a good reason – the official verdict is still out as to who has actually won the election. Last night, Prodi took to the stage in a packed Piazza Maggiore, here in […]
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, addressing a group of business leaders on Tuesday, gathered together all of his formidable marketing skills to find a slogan to gather voters to his cause: “I’ve too much respect for the intelligence of the Italians to believe that there could be many coglioni about who would vote against their own interests”[1].
Fabrizio Quattrocchi, who was murdered by his kidnappers in Iraq two years ago, has been awarded the medaglia d’oro al valor civile by Italy’s President Ciampi, on the suggestion of Interior Minister Pisanu. Posthumous medals are as much about creating potent symbols for the living, as paying respect to the dead. As such, it’s worth […]
Boris Johnson, writing in the Spectator, suggests that it would be a shame were Silvio Berlusconi to lose the next election. Focussing primarily on Berlusconi’s legendary gaffes, suggesting “they help to make him fallible and human, and to explain his popularity”, Johnson admits that five years of the Forza Italia government have “been a disappointment, […]
Luca Coscioni, at one point in his life, was known as an Economics professor and enthusiastic marathon runner. During the 1990s though, his life changed radically as he was diagnosed with Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (also known variously as Lou Gehrig’s disease or Motor Neurone Disease). The disease left him paralysed and unable to speak without […]
