While Berlusconi was in power, particularly for the second time, the usual question asked by non-Italians, was ‘how could you have voted for such a government?’, headed by a man with a shady past, with court cases coming out of his proverbials, not to mention his tendency towards Bernard Manning-style improv-comedy on the world stage. […]
Romano Prodi’s government has fallen, having lost a vote in the senate on a proposed renewal of Italy’s mission in Afghanistan. It’s unclear exactly what will happen – as consulatations start tomorrow to see whether the numbers can be found to form a new government, or whether new elections will be held. Mediaset shares, in […]
Fabio Fazio, presnter of the talk show Che tempo che fa, interviewing Eduardo Sanguineti, one of Italy’s leading poets, asked the sixty-million dollar question: Are reality-shows, like Big Brother, the modern translation of tragedy? Sanguineti, scarcely missing a beat – and without paying much attention to the fact that Che Tempo Che Fa is itself […]
Brilliant. Cesare Previti, lawyer and one-time right-hand man of Berlusconi, sentenced to five years for his role in corrupting a judge during one of Berlusconi’s many trials and tribulations, has had his sentence changed, yet again, thanks to the swings and roundabouts of a legal process that has never been short of controversial and highly […]
Living in the European Union, I’m concerned for one group of working Italians who may have difficulties in the international labour market, given that they seem unaware of the general codes of practice that pertain to their sector outside Italy. So, in a hopefully humble gesture of European solidarity, this monkey offers some tips to […]
Last Friday saw a much heralded episode of current affairs talk show Otto e Mezzo, focussing specifically on Intelligent Design and the (supposed) debate between proponents of creationism and evolution. It’s title was the lofty ‘inchiesta su dio’. The direction of the programme was interesting. First of all, as is often the case, on the […]
Hopefully the last posting about Luciano Moggi, ex sports director of Juventus. Almost simultaneously with the publication of the last posting, on sports ethics, news reports came in that Moggi’s scheduled lecture to students in a school in Agropoli has been cancelled. The reason? Apparently threats had been received by the school, and thus they […]
When writing my last post, about Luciano Moggi, I had yet to come across the news that Moggi has been invited to address students at a technical institute in Agropoli, a city in the Southern region of Campania. The theme for the day – Sport’s Education. Afterwards he will inaugurate a Luciano Moggi Juventus fan […]
Nominated by a group of Academics, and voted for by the public, Moggiopoli is the proper noun of the year for 2006. The competition is designed to recognise the word that has imposed itself most during the year, taking into account its originality, significance, the fantasy with which it was created, or for the events […]
On the first of January, fifteen clandestine immigrants being held in the Ragusa centre for temporary permanence (cpt)*, a secure unit, received a visit from an envoy from the city’s police headquarters. This would, in the normal course of events, probably be the first step in deportation. Instead the official came bearing papers that would […]
