(not) My Tram Experience

I started this blog, mainly because I felt the need to report in English some news regarding Italy, and also because as an Italian living abroad I get the chance to see a different point of view on my country. But as a foreigner living in the UK for more than four years now, I have also learnt to observe this country, and hopefully understand a bit of its culture.

One thing that would impress most foreigners coming to the UK - at least somebody coming from a place like Italy, where the number of foreigners is relatively low - it's how cosmopolitan this country is. London and pretty much every medium/large UK city are a melting pot of differente ethnicities, nationalities and cultures that, at first sight, peacefully coexist together.

This was also one of the subjects of my masters dissertation. Through interviews with groups of foreigner students and British students, I wanted to see how differently the foreigners would see this society as opposed to the locals. What I found was that the newer people are to this country, the more they think racism is not an issue. The more you live here, the more you think racism is a pretty big issue. Most of the British students I interviewed came from non-white ethnicities and they all felt they experienced some kind of racism at some point in their life.

The reason I am talking about this, is an awful video that went viral on YouTube yesterday. Titled "My Tram Experience" the video shows a British woman (Emma West) with a baby on her lap, racially abusing people on the tram, ranting about her country been taken over by black and polish people.

The video is truly appealing and generated disgust among most people, but looking at a bit of stats, it has so fare gained nearly 3.8 million views on YouTube; 46,952 dislikes and 13,603 likes. Now I wonder, what all these likes mean? Do they mean that 22% of the people that expressed an opinion on the video, agree with the woman? The number seems a bit high, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it represented a realistic percentage of xenophobes in this country.

At times of recession, when day in day out the papers are talking about job losses and crisis, it's easy to blame the lack of jobs on the foreigners.

After studying in this country and finding a job, I remember been happy to have a job where my Italian and language skills in general were a requirement, in that way I didn't feel like I was taking one of those "British jobs for British people" that are often promoted by a certain type of media.

I think this country has come a long way in accepting minorities, and in that it's far more advanced than many other European countries (including Italy), but at the same time, I feel that behind the surface there is still lots of hate and intolerance.

Berlusconi/Pinocchio: Spot the difference

If Mario Monti has been compared to Super Mario, the dwarf Silvio Berlusconi can easily be compared to Pinocchio.

I'm not just talking about the lies, but about that thing on his head his hair. Berlusconi seems to have been inspired by the famous puppet for his latest hairdo.

Berlusconi at a conference in Verona yesterday

Pinocchio, spot the difference

Emergency in Italy

In the past few weeks different parts of Italy, from the north to the south and Sicily have been affected by extreme weather conditions. People have lost their houses, their possessions and even their lives. I guess it doesn't really make a big news, we are not at Tsunami levels, and people are busy thinking about the economic situation, the X-Factor or the Christmas shopping, but sometimes it's good to stop for a moment and think that everything we have now, could be gone tomorrow.

Il Vero Amore AKA The Real Sh*T

As if it wasn't enough all the bad things he has done to Italy, the dwarf Berlusconi, who once said he was only a part-time Prime Minister, is inflicting us a new CD of horrible songs with cheesy lyrics authored by him and sang by Mariano Apicella, the most untalented singer on earth.

If you are brave enough here's a small sample. Beware Michael Buble', Berlusconi is coming after you!

Welcome to Super Mario

When I started writing this blog, just over a month ago, I had no idea how things would change so quickly. Not in my wildest dreams I thought that the dwarf Berlusconi would have resigned. It was so nice to see the Italians celebrating their joy and the whole world praising his exit. The question that night was "what's gonna happen now?" and the answer was "I don't know, but it can't been worse than what it has been for the past 17 years".

President Napolitano had a key role in setting up a new Government so quickly, and Mario Monti, a man that couldn't be more far away from Berlusconi's nasty image, seems to have the skills and knowledge to be a good Prime Minister. Italians are not entirely happy (we like to complain), because this Government has not been democratically elected, but look what we have done the last time we had the chance to elect someone?

A technocratic Government is Italy best bet in my opinion at the moment. The economy has been neglected for so long, the parliament has been filled with incompetent show biz people that know nothing on how to run a country, it is finally reassuring to see people that have academic knowledge and business experience to be in charge.

People are worried because the connection of Monti et al. with the banks, but then again, that's what runs the economy and at least they will have the inside knowledge necessary to lift Italy up.

So go Super Mario go!

Silvio Berlusconi 1993-2011

After Mubarak and Gaddafi, 2011 has been a great year for democracy. The day I have been waiting for so long has finally come, the end of the era of the dwarf!

Who's laughing now?!

River of rubbish

Some really shocking images from Naples. Following heavy rain and flooding, a small river carrying tons and tons of rubbish. Berlusconi claimed he had solved the rubbish crisis in Naples.

Sora Cesira on Berlusconi's resignation

In all this seriousness and dispair regarding the Italian economy, thought I would share a video made by the incredible Sora Cesira on Berlusconi's resignation, based on a parody of Kate Bush's Babushka. It's in Ital-English, but shouldn't be too difficult to understand for the non Italian speakers.

Berlusconi resigning? No.3

Well, this time the title should be: Berlusconi resigning!

It's pretty much clear that the dwarf will resign in two weeks time. This time is different from before, I'm convinced that he will finally be out of the political scene. Even his allies want to be dissociated from him now.

The future is still very uncertain, elections too soon are not good, as the opposition is not ready yet. A government led by technocrats sounds like the best option to try to sort out the mess Italy is in at the moment.

Anyway, this is the start of a new era, his time is definitely up!

Are you worried now?

Berlusconi resigning? No.2

Tonight I will go to bed hoping that tomorrow will be the last day of the dwarf Berlusconi's Government.

What an historic day would it be? The rumours started in the morning, when Giuliano Ferrara, a journalist close to Berlusconi and one of his biggest a**-kissers supporters, announced that the prime minister was going to resign within hours. Berlusconi denied the rumours, but tomorrow confidence vote could force him to finally resign.

We have been there before, so I don't want to have my hopes too high, but what is certain now is that we are getting closer and closer to the end of the Berlusconi era in Italy.

Honestly, this man has no idea!

Not that we needed any more proof that Berlusconi is unfit to lead Italy and has no idea of what's going on around him, but here's an allarming quote from the G20 published by the Guardian:

Berlusconi, facing defections from his own party, insisted he had invited the IMF to offer advice. He said on Friday he had rejected an offer of IMF funds. "I don't think Italy needs that," he said, claiming his country was more solid than France or the UK. "Italian restaurants and vacation spots are always full. Nobody has the sense the country is in a crisis".


Nobody has the sense the country is in a crisi? NOBODY HAS THE SENSE THE COUNTRY IS IN A CRISIS? NOBODY HAS THE SENSE THE COUNTRY IS IN A CRISIS?


Seriously mr. dwarf Berlusconi, are your eyes covered with parma ham (as the Italians say)? You must be the only person who has no sense the country is in a crisis, because everyone else does! Ask the thousands of graduates that have no hope of finding a job and still live with their parents in their 30s, or the young people that go abroad cause they are fed up with the Italian system, or the pensioners that struggle to get to the end of the month, or the people that have been working on the black market (as they have no other option) and won't even get a pension when they are too old to work, or basically just ask everyone that is not one of the prostitutes and mercenaries that surrounds you, because everyone will tell you that the country is not just in a crisis, is in a bloody mess!

Even at the G20 we all know what he was
really thinking about