The Sick Man of Europe? = "Nope We're Playboy!"

international | consumer issues | other press

Saturday May 28, 2005 12:25

by i

The British based news magazine "The economist" this week led with a cover "Italy the real sick man of Europe" which saw a little illustration of the peninsula on crutches hit news kiosks across the continent and a lot of content inside on the moribund, stagnant, depressed economy, and little digs at the lack of media freedom, disregard for civil and human rights and the "smellyiness" of it all.

Well Mr B. (B for berlusconi not beeton) has replied.
Retorted indeed-

"it is not true that Italy is the sick man of Europe"
"in Italy we have joys (delights and sweeties)"
"we are one of the richest nations on earth"
"our country is not beautiful for its good artists, but its culture and environment, but also one of the richest regions of Europe. Family wealth is increasing, we have a very high percentage of mobiles, cars and owner houses".

(and this is the line which is so, _so_ precious, which was indeed the touchstone of Mr B's spin)

"We have so many mobiles, we're playboy".

You might wonder how one of the most unpopular politicians in Europe, the only elected leader of a European state to have plastic surgery on his wrinkles, the man who built a vertible james bondesque fortress complete with tunnels and lair in Sardinia, got round to saying -

"we have so many mobiles, we're playboy".

So I'll tell you, he was listing all of things an italian ought be proud of (very few of which he could actually take credit for)-

"...we have 100,000 churches and monuments, 40,000 historic palaces, with the treasure they contain, 3500 museums, 2500 archeological sites, 1000 theatres"

and then-
"... we have the highest number of mobiles, we are playboy, and our youngsters send at least 10 messages a day to their girlfriends".

http://www.unita.it/index.asp?SEZIONE_COD=HP&TOPIC_TIPO=&TOPIC_ID=42839
http://www.unita.it/index.asp?topic_tipo=&topic_id=42706

So it's a bit weird, that today's Unita, (left wing daily) has brought the attention of their reader, distracting them from the musuems, churches, playboy lifestyle, to the startling fact that Italy leads the European Union in child exploitation and labour.
A startling 16.6% of Italian children it appears work for thier mobiles.

http://www.unita.it/index.asp?topic_tipo=&topic_id=42848

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Comments (8 of 8)

Follow up-

by -

Fri Jun 03, 2005 10:08

Romano Prodi, has sent his fellow party members, and citizens of Italy a message to reassure them that everything is ok, and he's the best leader for them.
There's a few problems among the Ulivo and Unione, and they follow up the recent local / municipal election collapse of the government coalition (led by Mr B).
Lots of people don't believe him.
They don't believe mr B either.
Lots of ordinary people who aren't on holidays in Crete, (where mr Prodi is) are asking why can't they have or indeed plan a proper left government that doesn't go into coalition with neo-liberalism all the time, then they remember Pius XII.
Anyway, what makes this message of "I'm alright Jack" special and front page news in Italy is that has been communicated to the oiks by internet!
This marks a new departure, no prominent Italian politician has ever chosen to make statements over the internet before, usually they're on the radio, or the telly, or sitting down to a milky coffee with a journalist, but is a sure sign, that they're getting to grips with the technology.
If this emerges as a new "fad" it could signal a drop in the employment possibilities offered by free market media to the "ribbid ribbid" types.

http://www.romanoprodi.it/cgi-bin/adon.cgi?act=doc&doc=231
http://www.unita.it/index.asp?topic_tipo=&topic_id=42949

Minister Maroni of the Italian government

by flying kites. - (if you're not benjamin's kind don't fly kites)

Sat Jun 04, 2005 13:12

has called for Italy to withdraw from the single european currency thing, and bring back the Lira.

This is weekend shite. Berlusconi has rejeced the idea his cohort other minister Fini says its not happening, and it amounts to little more than "party politics flag waving" ( kite flying we call it in Hogworts)
http://www.rainews24.it/Notizia.asp?NewsID=54763

But it's putting a cat amongst the pigeons of the centre left and the "casa del libertà" which is where we want the cat, my friends. & I'll tell you why, as they all run around trying to salvage the mess, they show us more clearly than for almost two years, how little they trust or even like each other.
They're all at it, for each of these national parties of the centre that showed a "united front" to sell yet another mythical €uropean project, play local and european games with each other.
It was one of the first things to smell - centre left, centre right, liberal, neofascist, christian democrat &c from the atlantic to the urinal all telling us to vote "yes" or more tellingly "you don't need to vote @ all".

Thus we see Schroeder flap flap, playing the big man, oh so soon after his election dishing, meeting Bertie, Chirac, ZP and *ahem* suggesting a strategy based on the "core members" - those richer than average states who gave Ireland and Spain all that lovely money to install our trams and deal with the money laundering by giving us nice new clean euros-

But Mr B (berlusconi) and Mr Balkenending have said no - bad blood to you schroeder they've said.

- Do you see how petty the big boys of €urope really are now?

The Germans would have got a very deal out of the Valerie Giscard d'Estaing €U constitution (version mark 1.1) it gave them population rated voting, they're the biggest population, it gave them a quasi-imperialist *ahem* living space free market to the east and south east, which pleased the austrians as well. Which is why they ratified the deal without voting.

Anyway they will all go on waving their little flags,
showing us their division, and so for the next few weeks, this is part of extended opinion polling activity. And the penny/lira/pfennig has dropped in all the parties of the centre, that they progressively placed a bigger and bigger bet on the table, and you know something?

The casino always wins.
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/exp_kite.html

Berlusconi

by i - taurus excreta cerebrum vincit

Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:40

Berlusconi,
Mr B.......
He's phoned his president, 24 hours late, and in reports published this morning has finally officially distanced himself from the kite flying on the Euro.
Mr B, may have billions of lira tucked away under his dirty mattresses, but he doesn't want to clean them.
& Mr B. is now calling on all the little flag wavers and kite flyers of Italian politics to come together "right now" "over me", "must be good-looking coz he's so hard to see", and show "Solidarity" with sickmen and playboys of Europe alike. I think this means that Mr B. is not going to put spanners in the "sort out the Europe mess", which he could if he wanted.

anyway, this is one pot on the boil more updates/links soon, (we now have "france sorts out the unemployed to save europe of the ordinary people" and "italy leads the way on thrashing the single currency for the mafia".)

http://www.ansa.it/main/notizie/fdg/200506060925201795/200506060925201795.html
http://www.rainews24.it/Notizia.asp?NewsID=54774

italian news

Tue Jun 07, 2005 13:10

The Italians goto poll in a referendum to change the law on stem cell research and artifical insemination.
And what's interesting is they will poll two days in a row the 12th and 13th.
Yesterday I made reference to the Swiss poll for Schengen which was only open a few hours, and suggested that all polls could be opened longer.
Now the Italians think "eggies" are so important that the polls ought be left open longer than usual, so that their ma and da will get off their apathetics and shamed into exercising the suffrage the second day.
& this makes perfect sense, and ought be the model for all democratic polls everywhere.

http://www.unita.it/index.asp?SEZIONE_COD=HP&TOPIC_TIPO=&TOPIC_ID=43028
http://www.adnkronos.com/3Level.php?cat=Politica&loid=1.0.45510208
http://www.60019.it/index.mv?fname=60019rubriche_leggi&num_rubr=1&num_art=1118129636

The man in the photo is Papa Ratzi, the german shepherd, formally known as God's Rotweiller,
the Bishop of Rome, the bavarian pontiff, he speaks 10 languages including latin, and plays the piano, we've lots in common except he's celibate and i'm not, i'm abit more "live augustine's youthful CV and you might merit the noteworthy intellect" anyway, Benedict XVI is telling all italians to vote No! he in contrast has told them to abstain from the Euro-vote. B.XVI has brought to his pontificacy some of the same tactics which marked his curia days, he does a lot on the "qt", and I'm noticing his "qt" turn up in lots of distant places, why he's following me around. I suppose that's good for my indulgences. I'm not telling any italians how to vote on the "fertilisation eggie thing" except that all to often the neo-liberal capitalist world present scientific advances as rational products of innovation and offering humanity new and miraculous cures to the plights of growing old, infirm &c. yet to date, with the exception of vaccines (for the rich world alone) , these benefits have not been made freely available to the majority of the poor, these advances and therapies are therefore for the comfort of the rich and those with a stake in the capitalist system.
So i'd say "abstain" on the italian eggies thing, we don't want a world of cloned mortgage payers.
+

I'm not reading playboy.

2nd day of Italian referendum.

by io

Mon Jun 13, 2005 13:48

only 18.7% on average of the electorate voted yesterday with highest participation in the north, Trieste, Bologna over 34% lowest in the the south, Calabria as low as 7% both Sicily and Sardinia averaging 11%
The man in the illustration above called for abstention.
& Mr B. went to porto rotondo, his lair on sardinia and has not been seen leaving. But i'm sure he has tunnels. But he's too far from his ballot box.

results of the "did your granny use a chicken baster vote?"

by :-)

Tue Jun 14, 2005 13:51

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70263

it has been some time since my last confession.

Tue Jun 14, 2005 13:57

i haven't voted, but I have been reading playboy, i am still troubled by impure thoughts....

its been some time since my last confession, I haven't voted but I have read playboy...

Berlusconi (liking his playboy tag) has joined forces with Finland to protest against €U Food Laws.

by iosaf

Thu Jun 23, 2005 15:56

I kid you not. Mr B. is trying to "milk" the insult.
He's joined forces with Finland to fight the new European Food Safety agency who've been giving Parmalat (a dairy based italian concern) a bad time.

today's-
http://www.unita.it/index.asp?SEZIONE_COD=HP&TOPIC_TIPO=&TOPIC_ID=43271
21st June-
http://www.unita.it/index.asp?topic_tipo=&topic_id=43254

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The Sick Man of Europe? = "Nope We're Playboy!"

Comments (8 of 8)