This monkey has already written about the daubing of the slogan ‘Shame on you Bagnasco’ on the doors of Genoa’s cathedral, suggesting that it was wrong to term this a threat, as most of the media immediately did.

Some hotheads somewhere decided to up the ante, though, and daubed walls in Genoa, and elsewhere, with bona fide threats to the head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. Slogans like ‘Death to Bagnasco’ have cropped up on walls.

Then, at the weekend, the Bishop – who, in reference to Italy’s impending legislation on rights for co-habiting couples (including homosexuals), likened homosexuality to incest and paedophilia – received a bullet in an envelope. Something no-one, regardless of how bigoted they maybe, should have to endure.

There’s an interesting blog entry on the Times Literary Supplement site, from regular columnist Mary Beard, on the subject of Hadrian’s Wall. Beard gives a quick history lesson to George W. Bush, and the Knesset, regarding their proposed and actual defensive barriers*. Beard deconstructs the conservative-comforting image of Hadrian’s wall, that of an impressive barrier […]

Right-on left-winger Fausto Bertinotti, member of the Rifondazione Comunista party and currently elected speaker of the lower chamber of deputies in Italy, during the week popped on a visit to the main Greek Orthodox monastery on Mt. Athos. As part of the junket informative trip Fausto checked out the groovy energy-supply systems employed by the […]

Silvio was in St. Petersburg the weekend that his buddy Vladimir Putin decided to take preventative measures against opposition protesters. His verdict? Illegal protests that the police had to clear in order to guarantee traffic circulation – a situation completely blown up by the media. Meanwhile, back in Silvio’s studios in Italy, the disney-like newscast […]

Slightly old news, but worth commenting on briefly. Italy has come up with a slick new corporate logo to brand it’s tourism advertising. A wad load of cash was spent on the corporate rebranding.

The proposed code of conduct for Blogs, outlined by wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Internet 2.0 guru Tim O’Reilly has generated little interest in the media here in Italy thus far. This strikes me as strange, given the general preoccupation with privacy, and the tendency of the news here to jump on every possible scandalous […]

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 […]

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.