Capello resigns as England Manager

Even for an Italian like me - who doesn't really care much about football - this is a sad day.

It's a sad day because up until today an Italian was pretty much the most important person in the UK. More important than the Queen, more important than David Cameron, and even more important than Simon Cowell. This is because football in this country is more important than religion (and the Queen is head of the Anglican Church), way more important than the Government (and David Cameron is supposedly in charge of the Government) and just about more important than the X-Factor (and Simon Cowell is still the head of the X-Factor, despite being replaced by Gary Barlow this year, but very few people are less important than Gary Barlow).

With this resignation, Italy has lost the little influence that still had in this country and Mario Balotelli will be pretty much the most influential Italian in the UK. A sad day indeed.

Fabio Capello to the FA

2011 Review

So many things happened in 2011, it's hard to remember them all. The always helpful Google has posted the Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review video, to remember all the bad (Japan Earthquacke, Brasil Floods, Various Deaths - Amy, Steve Jobs, Liz Taylor, etc.) and good (Southern Sudan Independence, Arab Spring, Occupy Movement, etc) things happened this year:

One thing is missing from this video, Berlusconi's resignation as Italian Prime Minister. Here's a video of that historical night:

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?!

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.

Berlusconi resigning?

Rumours of a possible resignation of Silvio Berlusconi before Christmas have set the web on fire this morning. Nothing has been confirmed, and to be honest I don't want to set my hopes too high, but if confirmed, the news will definitely be welcomed by many.

My question is, given that polls show an all-time low in the popularity of the Italian Prime Minister, wouldn't this be political suicide? Knowing him, probably not.

The opposition in Italy is still not strong enough, they still haven't got a leader that could run for elections if called too early, and most of all, they do not have a political programme. I feel that the past campaigns of the left in Italy have been disastrous, it seems that all they can do is to argue against everything that Berlusconi says, rather than come up with something new. He does cast a big shadow, but the opposition's best bet would be, in my opinion, to simply try to forget about him. Someone said that all publicity is good publicity, and this is definitely true. If in Italy we can't have a political debate without mentioning him, then we won't be able to move on.

Thinking about elections next spring makes me excited, but am not sure if I should be more scared instead?

Aren't you tired Mr. Berlusconi?