As I for one predicted, the defenestration of Silvio Berlusconi last November in a palace coup orchestrated by Europe’s bores has made no difference. Italy may well be governed by a dour former economics professor, Eurocrat and international adviser to Goldman Sachs, Mario Monti, but Italy is still in a total mess.
So I greeted the news that Silvio il Magnifico, as I call him, will stand for the fourth time as Premier in the next general election by trying to high-five my Italian wife Carla in the kitchen. ‘Dammi un cinque!’ I shouted.
Bravo Silvio! Che uomo! Yes, Il Cavaliere (the Knight) is a bit long in the tooth. He will be 76 in September and has survived not just prostate cancer but Italy’s cancerous judges and lynch-mob lefty media, any of which would have finished off lesser mortals years ago.
And yes, ovviamente, Berlusconi, Italy’s richest man and owner of three of its four national private television channels, is a very controversial figure.
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