Category: Uncategorized

The one thing the Italian public is agreed upon is the end to public financing of political parties.  Yesterday Letta and the bipartisan government signed their own death warrant with a DDL that indeed ends the financing of parties on the basis of a pay per vote system.  You would think the Italians would be…

Its now 90 odd days since the general election, and a goodly month since we have a government, if the bunch of self congratulatory smuggers can be called that.  And yet, strangely, nothing has happened.   In fact since Monti gave up on the ungrateful hordes 6 months ago they have enacted one thing –…

A packed two days. Sunday – Gabanelli the excellent journalist who does ‘Report’ did a programme about transparency.  5 star and Beppe Grillo came in for some hard questions about their party funding – cue howls from Grillo who says – ‘but we nominated her for president of the Repubblic’-  They did its true, and…

He’s got a lot to answer for.  Forget the WMD (he has), forget the best buddy with George Bushel and e peck, forget the conversion to Rome – my beef is that he changed it all.   It seems that any supposed left of centre, centre, bit to the right of centre aspiring politican must…

Things are getting bad if not worse. Mr Berlusconi (you will see the reason for my respect later) is preparing for an election. Yesterday the first thing the PDL suggested for the new government was the attempt to introduce a law against phone taps – as you can guess a thing of immediate importance to…

This weekend has seen the nadir of Italian politics, if it were possible to sink further. On Saturday the lecherous old perv hosted a rally in Brescia against the communist judges. The pdl claimed that it was a normal electoral rally – (for which elections noone seems to know), and on that basis they wheeled…

This pathetic show of parliamentary democracy really irks me sometimes.  We have a government led by the PD with 9 leftie ministers and 6 righty ministers and a couple of old middle people and thats it.  It will, we are promised, be a new broom – to do what though?  A week after its unveiling,…

We have a  government.  The new PD prime minster Enrico Letta has put together his cabinet which includes PDL (conservatives) Centrist Montiani and PD (Labour) ministers.  And just for fun theres a couple of technocrats in there.  The far left SEL and the Northern League will be in constructive opposition apparently, and theres not a…

A week of party politics taken to the max, the inevitable disintegration of the old/new left, and an old man reelected until he is an even older man.  Grillo shouts that there has been a mini coup, and advocates a march on Rome – not the cleverest thing to do – and his moderate supporters…

The elections for the new President start today and behold – Bersani and Berlusconi have come to an agreement before they even begin.  FOr Marini – who failed spectacularly to get elected in Molise and is ‘acceptable’ only because he is so far inside the ‘machine’ that he must have cogs up his jacksy.  …