I seem to be one of the few people in my circle of friends and family not to be a fan of the Channel 4 programme, Grand Designs. Sure, it’s a cut above the usual celebrations of real-estate avarice, such as Property Ladder and the noisome Location, Location, Location (or is it now Relocation, Relocation, […]
The Man Booker International Prize list has been announced for 2007. Not surprisingly there are no Italian novelists included. Not surprisingly as the English-language publishing world takes a lot of interest in ‘international’ but not ‘foreign’ literature. There are plenty of great living novelists in Italy, but few who manage to get published in English. […]
Generally speaking, nothing irritates this monkey more than bloggers talking about bloggers – be they Irish, Italian, or otherwise. Having said that, the latest post on Alessandro Longo‘s excellent blog is worth sharing. Talking about the debate as to whether blogging – specifically in an Italian context – can become a profession, Longo draws attention […]
It’s always been a matter of some surprise to me that I have never been busted for tax evasion. I’ve worked in a dozen countries under a kaleidoscopically variegated set of tax systems (Poland alone has at least three different kinds of employment contract) – none of which I have ever understood. A snotty letter […]
From Saturday’s Irish Times review of Susan Sontag’s final collection of essays: “Sontag incurred disproportionate approbrium for her initial reaction to the events of September 11, 2001” I suppose it would also be disproportionate to ask the sub-editor who overlooked a howler like “approbrium” (opprobrium + approbation?) to submit to a yakuza-style yubitsume ritual? These, […]
They have this TV station here called TVN 24 – yes it is original, isn’t it? – devoted to news only. I happened to catch sight of it over the tremendously boring Easter holidays here. As befits a creative industry, they have copied the western habit of having a ticker tape at the bottom of […]
Adjmal Nashkbandi, the Afghan interpreter kidnapped alongside the now-free Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, payed the ultimate price for not-being Italian, when the Taliban executed him yesterday.
Mastrogiacomo was released on the 19th of March, in a deal that involved the release of five taliban prisoners by the Afghan government. Nashkbandi, though, was not released at the same time, being kept by the Taliban in order to force more concessions from Karzait’s government. Concessions that were never likely to come.
On the 2nd of April a very public message was delivered to the new President of the Italian Bishops Conference, Archbishop Bagnasco. Daubed on the doors of Genoa’s San Lorenzo cathedral were the words ‘Shame on you Bagnasco’1
The message was, presumably, a reaction to the controversy generated by the newly appointed succesor to Cardinal Ruini, and his clarification as to why the Italian Bishops Conference has publicly opposed upcoming legislation which would grant legal rights to de facto couples (including homosexuals)[legislation referred to popularly as DICO, from it’s acronym in Italian].
I sometimes mutter to myself when some bewigged windbag is described “as one of the finest legal minds of his generation.” Given the absence of any real benchmarks for performance at the Irish bar, such a description can be charitably interpreted as describing a barrister who loses less than 50% of his or her cases. […]