Italy Economy Real Time Data Charts

Edward Hugh is only able to update this blog from time to time, but he does run a lively Twitter account with plenty of Italy related comment. He also maintains a collection of constantly updated Italy economy charts together with short text updates on a Storify dedicated page Italy - Lost in Stagnation?


Saturday, November 16, 2002

ITALY'S DEGENERATE POLITICS FURTHER DEGENERATES



A top Italian politician called on Saturday for the castration of rapists in the wake of a series of rapes in northern Italy.

"It is an intolerable situation. To avoid these shameful crimes there is only one solution -- the physical castration of these delinquents," Roberto Calderoli, the vice president of Italy's Senate (upper house), said in a statement. "Once upon a time one spoke of chemical castration, but personally I tend more toward simpler methods: scissors, and ones that are not necessarily sterilized," Calderoli, a member of the rightist Northern League, added.
Source: Yahoo News LINK



No comment, but unfortunately today there's more news in a similar vein:

Italy's Interior Minister offered to resign on Sunday as a row flared over comments he reportedly made about a murdered government aide. But Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he had not accepted Interior Minister Claudio Scajola's resignation.

Scajola tendered his resignation after two respected newspapers reported comments he had made about the assassinated aide in which he called the murdered man "a pain in the ass who wanted to have his contract renewed.............. Biagi's assassination became front-page news again last week when letters written by the economist to a number of government officials, were published, highlighting his security concerns over a decision to withdraw his police escort. The Interior Ministry has launched an internal investigation into the decision to withdraw Biagi's bodyguards, but Scajola has defended the decision saying not everyone could be escorted.
"If (Biagi) had been protected there would have been three dead," Il Corriere quoted Scajola as saying.
Source: Yahoo News LINK



The continuing question mark over the judgemental capacity of Italy's political class which is once again re-inforced by the above must also raise the serious doubts about this country's capacity to rise to the challenges which are undountedly waiting just around the corner.

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