Italy’s minister for Foreign Affairs, Gianfranco Fini (TIFOF
News comes to me of an article in the Irish Times (Dec 8th) about the plight of Poles in Ireland. It seems that many of the estimated 120,000 emigrants have been lured there by unrealistically optimistic stories about Ireland in the Polish media. (These stories started before Poland’s referendum on joining the EU, when Ireland […]
The view from Gdańsk is not pretty. As Pinter accepts his Nobel prize, Poland slips further into the absurd and the vulgar. Here is a random selection, from memory, so apologies for any small inaccuracies: Charges of defamation against a journalist were, after lengthy consideration and great tax-payer funded expense, finally dropped. The charges were […]
A new report from England, on the effects of texting on literacy, will be of some comfort to Italy’s cultural guardians. The study, conducted at the the department of communication and science at City University in London, found that there were no significant differences in the instances of grammar and spelling mistakes between two groups […]
Poles accepted Harold Pinter’s Nobel prize with good grace, despite the high hopes they had for local boy Ryszard Kapuściński. Old interviews with Pinter and newer ones with his translator were run in the papers and parallels were drawn between him and another local boy, playwright Sławomir Mrożek. Both men have lent their names to […]
Many happy returns to Silvio Berlusconi, celebrating his birthday. Well wishers (or spin-doctors?) on the Forza Italia official site posted gloriously over the top messages of congratulation: “Don’t give up President, you’re the only idol left in this disgusting world. Save us from Prodi and Bertinotti [left-wing opponents] – Many Happy Returns!”. Such devotion (let’s […]
Thankfully, the voices speaking out against the comments made by the ‘moderate’ President of the Senate, Marcello Pera, have been numerous. Amongst those criticising Pera’s warnings against a ‘mestizo’ nation, were former Prime Minister, and one time leader of the Democrazia Cristiana party, Giulio Andreotti. “The President of the Senate has his merits. Last year […]
Bologna may have been relegated, but it’s not all doom and gloom in the world of football. Inter Milan President Moratti responded positively it would seem to the Zapatista challenge to a game. Moratti’s reply to Subcommandante Marcos, and the balaclaved Zapatistas response seem to have had little coverage in the Italian press, having been […]
Last year a controversial law was introduced by the centre-right ruling majority in Italy, to govern the conditions under which assisted procreation may take place. The requirement for legislation governing this area was not in itself controversial. Most recognised that there existed a ‘far-west’ situation, where ethics and medical standards were dubious to say the […]
Flying back to Bologna, after a week in Ireland, the day before Pope John Paul II’s funeral, I expected to be packed tight alongside pilgrims en-route to the Eternal City. I was, and I wasn’t. That there were pilgrims on-board is certain. That there were unoccupied seats around me is also a fact. I overheard […]
