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April 17, 2008
Silvio Berlusconi: Anatomy of a Roman emperor
His brand of bombastic politics would never fly in Whitehall; but in Italy he's the Boss - virile, successful, rich, dynamic, and clearly, if the Italian voters are to be believed, irresistible. We take a closer look at the man who is once more Prime Minister of Italy
Sarah Vine
HAIR Italian men are often accused of vanity - but one man's ego is another's innate sense of style. And doesn't the world's most glamorous country need a man who takes care of himself? Berlusconi believes he is handsome, and when the mirror doesn't concur, he has it altered.
HEAD Berlusconi behaves like most Italian men would if they suddenly found themselves in power: blustery, gauche, a bit too pompous. It's quite touching really. Either that or it's a clever act to conceal the mind of a genius. But we don't think so.
HEART A dodgy ticker hasn't slowed Berlusconi's ardour for the one passion that all Italians share: football. As the owner of AC Milan, one of Italy's most successful football teams, Berlusconi's appeal goes straight to the heart of that passion. Currently, he is taking a few minutes off from saving the country to try to steal Ronaldinho from FC Barcelona. With balls like that, it's a wonder that the man can still walk.
MUSCLE Italians pride themselves on their legendary powers of persuasion. In his wooing of the electorate, Berlusconi has been handing out promises like favours at a Neapolitan wedding. Top of his agenda is protecting the interests of Italy's national airline, Alitalia (aka, Always Late In Take-off, Always Late In Arrival), recently the subject of a proposed takeover on behalf of Air France. The deal appears to be off. Might someone have made someone else an offer they couldn't possibly refuse?
STOMACH As well as football, Berlusconi's empire encompasses the print and broadcast media, advertising, insurance, food and construction. One way or another, he has embraced every aspect of Italian life - including some of the less salubrious. Namely, the barely concealed animosity many Italians harbour for anyone not entirely native to il Bel Paese. Berlusconi is on good terms with the troublesome Lega Nord, who believe that anything or anyone south of Rome is essentially foreign. And not in a good way.
HANDS Berlusconi understands better than anyone the Italian natural dislike of beaureaucracy. Technically, Italy has more red tape than any country; but not if you happen to have a pair of Silvio Scissors to hand. In his own dealings, the man has an almost superhuman ability to escape the unimaginative boundaries of the law, a Houdini-like talent for dissolving difficulties that most Italians secretly admire, even as they throw up their hands in horror.
POCKET Berlusconi is one of the richest men in Italy: £6 billion, maybe more, who knows? But that's not really the point. Point is, he's rich, and Italians like rich. They respect rich. In fact, they'd really like to be it themselves again, maybe someday soon. Perhaps the electorate are hoping that if the man can't actually fix Italy's ailing economy, he might at least be able to buy them a nice new one.
PROWESS It's not his fault, the man can't help it. Berlusconi's business acumen is matched only by his appetite for feminine charms. Already he is lining up a cast of lovely ladies to serve in his new Government, including Mara Carfagna, a former model, television presenter and Miss Italy contestant.
Berlusconi quotes
"Work, work, work - I am almost German"
"I am the Jesus Christ of politics. I am a patient victim, I put up with everyone, I sacrifice myself for everyone"
"Another reason to invest in Italy is that we have beautiful secretaries... superb girls"
La Striscia del Giorno
Are U sure?!
Visualizzazione post con etichetta Times dixit. Mostra tutti i post
Visualizzazione post con etichetta Times dixit. Mostra tutti i post
lunedì 21 aprile 2008
martedì 15 aprile 2008
Questa era l'opinione dell'osservatore del Times negli ultimi giorni di campagna elettorale...
...meglio non farsi del male pensando a cosa diranno ora...
Ci sono delle chicche in questo articolo:
Walter Veltroni is the butt of Silvio Berlusconi's campaign jokes
Richard Owen in Naples
“The Left?” asks Silvio Berlusconi. “The Left says it loves the poor”. He pauses: the banner-waving supporters braving the rain in Piazza del Plebiscito, Naple’s main square, wait for the punch line. “So it does. The Left loves the poor so much it creates more of them every time it gets into power”.
The crowd erupts, even though it has heard most of Mr Berlusconi’s jokes before. He turns his fire on Walter Veltroni, the earnest, bespectacled new leader of the Centre Left and his opponent in next weekend’s election. “Veltroni? He leads the Bikini Party - it shows a lot but covers up the Communist essentials”. Another roar of approval, to the sound of Mr Berlusconi’s campaign song “Thank God for Silvio”.
The two leaders are fighting a final battle for undecided voters, estimated at between twenty and thirty percent, in a country disillusioned with its chronic political instability, economic decline and self serving elite.
Mr Veltroni, who has also drawn enthusiastic crowds by promising change, mocks the leader of the Centre Right for his age. Mr Veltroni, a former mayor of Rome, is 52, an ex Communist turned social democrat who has cast himself as the Italian Barack Obama, with a “can do” mission to lift Italy out of nepotism, inflation, corruption and near-zero growth.
Mr Berlusconi, a television tycoon and self-made billionaire, is trying for his third term as Prime Minister at 71 - despite his repeated brushes with the law over alleged corruption, his history of gaffes, cosmetic surgery and hair transplants, and the accusation that he used his last period in office to pass laws benefiting himself rather than Italy.
After his narrow defeat against Romani Prodi in 2006 Mr Berlusconi refused to step down, claiming the vote had been marred by “irregularities”, and then retreated to his villa on Sardinia. But the old stager has bounced back, telling election rallies he is “unfortunately irreplaceable”.
Yesterday even Fausto Bertinotti, leader of the Far Left Refounded Communists, admitted Mr Berlusconi had “more rapport with the working class” than Mr Veltroni, who was “bound to lose”. Far from appearing “tired”, as Mr Veltroni claims, Mr Berlusconi - who had an early career as a cruise ship entertainer before making his fortune in property and television - looks and sounds more exuberant than ever, sporting a dark open-necked shirt with his trademark double breasted suit.
The formula clearly works: Mr Berlusconi is five to nine points ahead of Mr Veltroni in the opinion polls.”He is not a politician, he is a hard working entrepeneur who entered politics to save this country,” said Lucio Parrillo, a lawyer from Benevento. And the corruption charges? “All lies. The press and the magistrates in Italy are all left wing. For us Berlusconi has the same status as the Pope. He sees into the future”.
Naples is Centre Left territory, and some of the crowd had been bussed in. But the Left is blamed both locally and nationally for the Mafia-linked Naples rubbish crisis, which has damaged Italy’s image abroad, along with the near-bankruptcy of Alitalia and the scare over dioxin levels in mozzarella.
Mr Berlusconi vowed to hold his first Cabinet meeting in Naples, with the rubbish crisis at the top of the agenda. “Silvio will restore our international prestige” said Nunzia Mascolo, whose mother Carolina was wrapped in a “Vote for Berlusconi “ flag. And his unpredictable gaffes, such as telling an unemployed young woman she should marry a millionaire “like my son”, or women supporters that their job was to make jam tarts for voters? “They just show he has a sense of humour - unlike the Left”.
Some in the crowd had doubts about Mr Berlusconi’s allies, including Gianfranco Fini, the urbane and ambitious leader of the Far Right Alleanza Nazionale, who shared the Naples platform. Mr Berlusconi is also vulnerable to the charge that - unlike Mr Veltroni - he says little about the fight against the Mafia, with which he has long denied having links.
The Right’s promises - lower taxes, a crackdown on crime and illegal immigration - look set to win the day next Sunday and Monday. But because of Italy’s complex electoral system there may be near-deadlock in the Senate, as there was in 2006. Mr Berlusconi moreover has been deserted by a key Christian Democratic ally which is running separately with the backing of the Catholic Church.
There is therefore growing talk of a Grand Coalition “in the national interest” if neither side wins the Senate outright. Yesterday Mr Berlusconi complained that the ballot papers were confusing, with party symbols so close together that voters might “put their cross in the wrong box”. Giuliano Amato, the Interior Minister, responded drily that the ballot papers were drawn up in accordance with an electoral law passed by Mr Berlusconi himself, and it was too late to change them.
Ci sono delle chicche in questo articolo:
Walter Veltroni is the butt of Silvio Berlusconi's campaign jokes
Richard Owen in Naples
“The Left?” asks Silvio Berlusconi. “The Left says it loves the poor”. He pauses: the banner-waving supporters braving the rain in Piazza del Plebiscito, Naple’s main square, wait for the punch line. “So it does. The Left loves the poor so much it creates more of them every time it gets into power”.
The crowd erupts, even though it has heard most of Mr Berlusconi’s jokes before. He turns his fire on Walter Veltroni, the earnest, bespectacled new leader of the Centre Left and his opponent in next weekend’s election. “Veltroni? He leads the Bikini Party - it shows a lot but covers up the Communist essentials”. Another roar of approval, to the sound of Mr Berlusconi’s campaign song “Thank God for Silvio”.
The two leaders are fighting a final battle for undecided voters, estimated at between twenty and thirty percent, in a country disillusioned with its chronic political instability, economic decline and self serving elite.
Mr Veltroni, who has also drawn enthusiastic crowds by promising change, mocks the leader of the Centre Right for his age. Mr Veltroni, a former mayor of Rome, is 52, an ex Communist turned social democrat who has cast himself as the Italian Barack Obama, with a “can do” mission to lift Italy out of nepotism, inflation, corruption and near-zero growth.
Mr Berlusconi, a television tycoon and self-made billionaire, is trying for his third term as Prime Minister at 71 - despite his repeated brushes with the law over alleged corruption, his history of gaffes, cosmetic surgery and hair transplants, and the accusation that he used his last period in office to pass laws benefiting himself rather than Italy.
After his narrow defeat against Romani Prodi in 2006 Mr Berlusconi refused to step down, claiming the vote had been marred by “irregularities”, and then retreated to his villa on Sardinia. But the old stager has bounced back, telling election rallies he is “unfortunately irreplaceable”.
Yesterday even Fausto Bertinotti, leader of the Far Left Refounded Communists, admitted Mr Berlusconi had “more rapport with the working class” than Mr Veltroni, who was “bound to lose”. Far from appearing “tired”, as Mr Veltroni claims, Mr Berlusconi - who had an early career as a cruise ship entertainer before making his fortune in property and television - looks and sounds more exuberant than ever, sporting a dark open-necked shirt with his trademark double breasted suit.
The formula clearly works: Mr Berlusconi is five to nine points ahead of Mr Veltroni in the opinion polls.”He is not a politician, he is a hard working entrepeneur who entered politics to save this country,” said Lucio Parrillo, a lawyer from Benevento. And the corruption charges? “All lies. The press and the magistrates in Italy are all left wing. For us Berlusconi has the same status as the Pope. He sees into the future”.
Naples is Centre Left territory, and some of the crowd had been bussed in. But the Left is blamed both locally and nationally for the Mafia-linked Naples rubbish crisis, which has damaged Italy’s image abroad, along with the near-bankruptcy of Alitalia and the scare over dioxin levels in mozzarella.
Mr Berlusconi vowed to hold his first Cabinet meeting in Naples, with the rubbish crisis at the top of the agenda. “Silvio will restore our international prestige” said Nunzia Mascolo, whose mother Carolina was wrapped in a “Vote for Berlusconi “ flag. And his unpredictable gaffes, such as telling an unemployed young woman she should marry a millionaire “like my son”, or women supporters that their job was to make jam tarts for voters? “They just show he has a sense of humour - unlike the Left”.
Some in the crowd had doubts about Mr Berlusconi’s allies, including Gianfranco Fini, the urbane and ambitious leader of the Far Right Alleanza Nazionale, who shared the Naples platform. Mr Berlusconi is also vulnerable to the charge that - unlike Mr Veltroni - he says little about the fight against the Mafia, with which he has long denied having links.
The Right’s promises - lower taxes, a crackdown on crime and illegal immigration - look set to win the day next Sunday and Monday. But because of Italy’s complex electoral system there may be near-deadlock in the Senate, as there was in 2006. Mr Berlusconi moreover has been deserted by a key Christian Democratic ally which is running separately with the backing of the Catholic Church.
There is therefore growing talk of a Grand Coalition “in the national interest” if neither side wins the Senate outright. Yesterday Mr Berlusconi complained that the ballot papers were confusing, with party symbols so close together that voters might “put their cross in the wrong box”. Giuliano Amato, the Interior Minister, responded drily that the ballot papers were drawn up in accordance with an electoral law passed by Mr Berlusconi himself, and it was too late to change them.
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