March of the Technocrats: Italy’s Mario Monti’s Ministers
The members of Mario Monti’s new government for Italy were revealed today. Conspicuous by their absence from the Monti cabinet were politicians from the defunct Berlusconi government, although a couple of Monti’s ministers have shown themselves in the past to be somewhat Silvio Berlusconi friendly. Their inclusion in Monti’s cabinet was probably a concession to […]
The Crippling Cost of Politics to Italy
Italian business association Confcommercio recently carried out some research into just how much Italy’s politicians cost Italians. The answer is that Italy’s politicians cost around €152 per capita or €352 per family unit. To put that figure in perspective, the cost of politicians in the United Kingdom is a mere €9 per person. According to […]
Banning Lawyers from Italy’s Parliament
Whilst scanning the news, as I do, I noticed that Italian Values IDV party leader and staunch opponent of Silvio Berlusconi, Antonio Di Pietro has placed a bill before Italy’s parliament which would ban practising lawyers, such as Berlusconi attorneys Ghedini and Longo from taking up seats in Italy’s parliament. Not a bad idea as […]
Francesco Cossiga Understood Italy
For those who did not know, Francesco Cossiga, who died the other day, was an Italian politician and one time President of Italy. Cossiga hailed from Sardinia, was a fan of John Le Carre and had earned himself the nickname “the pickaxe” owing to his no holds barred criticism of other Italian politicians.
Berlusconi’s Image-Protection Broadsides
The Times Online, as noted by Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, published an article today commenting on Berlusconi’s latest attempts to silence criticism.
Splitting Italy
Umberto Bossi, the irascible leader of Italy’s Northern League party does not like Italy. I get the impression that he’d love to see a form of de-unification, and here’s how he could achieve his dream.
Alfano’s Digital Document Management Miracle
When he’s not passing some ad personam law or other to protect the back of his political master, angel faced Angelino Alfano, Italy’s minister of justice is doing some good.
Contradictions in Italy
The newspapers in Italy contain some strange contradictions at the moment.
Italians Need Dignity
In so many words Berlusconi often likes to tell Italians that they should be pleased with what they’ve got.
