For Andy: Wimbledon - Men’s Final 2008

July 5, 2008 · Filed Under 4-4-2 Pub · 2 Comments 

Just got back from the 442. Alessandro told me that he is going to show the men’s final tomorrow.

The 442 will open about 15 minutes before the start of the match, which means at around 2:45ish Italian time. This is on the assumption that the match will begin at 2 pm UK time.

I’m not sure I’ll be there - we’ve got friends coming over.

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Note For Your Diary: The 2008 Gigli Festival Nola

May 14, 2008 · Filed Under Events · Comment 

This year’s edition of the intriguing Nola Festival, which I wrote about in my Gigli Festival, Nola, Italy post, is just over a month away.

The festival runs for the whole week from the 22 to the 29 June, 2008.

In the event that you can’t manage to spend a whole week there, the best day is probably the final Sunday on which the processions are held.

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The Archetypal Italian Does it Again

April 15, 2008 · Filed Under Italian politics · 8 Comments 

Mr Berlusconi has once more grasped power in Italy, as he enters his third (and final??!!) term in office. However, even if the centre did not do too badly, the people were wary of the regurgitated one - Veltroni, which is probably why he did not win. One the other hand, the extreme left took a real battering.

That the extreme left should have done so badly is not much of a surprise to this blogger, even if some Italians find it so. Back in the UK, those in the know realised that old style socialism and communism had become out moded. Most of the workers now had the rights and money they had always sought, and now they wanted the same advantages as their middle class peers, ie lower taxes and better services. Hence the centrist ‘New Labour’. The same has happened in Italy. The left did its job, and did itself out of a job in the process.

But what will happen to Italy now that Berlusconi has been given the mandate? Good question. On paper he appears to have enough of a majority to push through a few much needed reforms, but the reality is that Berlusconi is still an old school Italian, and old school Italians do not like change. In fact, they detest it.

In Mr B’s case, one suspects that he will only bring about change if he sees that he can gain some personal commercial advantage, as more or less happened during his previous reign. This is to be expected; after all, he is a businessman. But he won’t miss the opportunity to give the appearance of pandering to the people to keep himself up top. And he has the media power to help him to do this, seeing as he now effectively controls most of it in Italy.

The tanned one has been promising hard times for Italians in the months ahead, and tax cuts.

Just what will happen really is anyone’s guess.  One thing is sure though, with Berlusco in power, it will be quite a show. But whether it will be an Oscar winning performance, well……….

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