Tip of the hat to an indignant letter writer – the Italian equivalent of ‘digusted, of Tunbridge Wells’- spurred into action to write to La Repubblica having viewed the ‘spectacle’ of Italian senators reacting to the vote of no-confidence in Romano Prodi’s government. For those of you who didn’t see the clips, attached below is […]
Tip of the hat to an indignant letter writer – the Italian equivalent of ‘digusted, of Tunbridge Wells’- spurred into action to write to La Repubblica having viewed the ‘spectacle’ of Italian senators reacting to the vote of no-confidence in Romano Prodi’s government. For those of you who didn’t see the clips, attached below is […]
Trade union membership in this country which owes its existence to trade unions is 14% of workers. Nie has a cover story this week about Solidarity’s disgraceful behaviour during the recent miners’ strike. In brief, a profitable mine was joined with a much less profitable one where the miners earned more, having recently received a […]
Or a fragmentary synopsis of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West derived from some of the English and Spanish words I had to look up:bistre; chine; tang; jornada; jacal; pritchel; frizzen; bungstarter; vadose; vernier sight; lobo; sotol; tapadero; felloe; duledge; monocline; kerf; rebozo; almagre; carreta; escopeta; legbail; pauldron; ocotillo; squail; […]
Spare a thought for my friend Carlo. Like many who lean left, last week he was hit by a a profound depression watching the deja-vu muppetry of Prodi’s government disintegrating. Carlo’s been here before. In 1998 when Fausto Bertinotti’s Rifondazione Comunista party withdrew its support from Prodi’s coalition, forcing a succession of caretaker governments which […]
Poles are slowly realising that plastic bags are an unsightly, long-lasting non-biodegradable blot on the landscape – no, sorry. They’re realising that a cheap PR buck can be made by pretending to be concerned about the environment. Spotted on a typical plastic bag from a multi-national supermarket company operating in Poland: “This bag is environment […]
When untrained amateurs try to do it, we call it “pulling a face.” But when executed by professionals, it’s simply…acting, dear boy.
Last week the Justice minister Clemente Mastella gave a teary-eyed speech of resignation to the parliament, upon learning that he, his wife, and most of their political party – the UDEUR – were being formally put under investigation for political interference in public appointments (in particular within the health service). Mastella’s resignation, followed on Monday […]
Last week the Justice minister Clemente Mastella gave a teary-eyed speech of resignation to the parliament, upon learning that he, his wife, and most of their political party – the UDEUR – were being formally put under investigation for political interference in public appointments (in particular within the health service). Mastella’s resignation, followed on Monday […]