ninme

The Times (Saturday) - Prodi Agonistes
Goodbye to a shreds and patches Italian Government, hello to uncertainty

Many Italians would retort that their extravagantly remunerated politicians treat parliament more like an automatic feeder, a machine for dispensing patronage and privilege that, cascading through regions and provinces, leeches the earnings of taxpayers who pay far too much for much too little. The demise of Italy’s unloved 61st postwar Government comes at a time of mounting public shame at the state of the nation, and anger with its political class. People are mortified that Spain’s economy has outstripped Italy’s. They hold their noses at the garbage fumes rising from Naples, where what politicians now call a crisis is, everyone knows, a problem that has been around for two decades, and at the political fumes from Sicily, where a governor convicted of indirectly assisting the Mafia clings smugly to power. News that Clemente Mastella, the Justice Minister, was under judicial investigation for corruption, along with his wife and 23 close associates, caused less surprise than curiosity as to whether that would bring down the Government.

At least they don’t have to decide between Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Plus, there’s always the food.