Italy: Its own worst stereotype?

There's no election in Italy necessarily in the offing. It's like our system, where the PM picks the date, and they aren't legally required to have one for a few years yet. Nonetheless, the politics there are fascinating.

Italy's politics have generally been divided on a left-right basis, though the actual parties involved seem to morph and change every few years.

The current PM, as I'm sure you all know, is this guy:

Silvio Beerlusconi: Image from a funny blog post

I have previously described this man as a cross between Rupert Murdoch and Hugh Hefner. To complete the picture, I should say that he is in fact only in government through coalition with Lega Nord, who I would describe as being a sinister mirror-universe version of the SNP, if they'd been founded by Enoch Powell.

I am not the only one to give Silvio, at best, a two-star review. If the recent local elections and referendum are any guide, the bulk of the Italian electorate might also be getting tired of his shit.

The referendum might need some explanation: last year, the parliament passed, over bitter opposition, a law making Ministers immune from legal prosecution. This is good, because Silvio is a massive crook. His opponents managed to get it on to a national ballot, where 94.6% of people voted that being in office isn't reason enough to be above the law. The No campaign were particularly classy, trying just to drive down turnout to the point where the vote wouldn't be binding.

The Left is, as the Left loves to be, fragmented and ineffective.  There is, however, a rising star:

Nichi Vendola, in a an image that seems to be by Giovanni Dell'Orto

Overall, it would be hard for the two men to be more different:

	Berlusconi	Vendola
Background	Milan	Puglia
Regrettable shady past	Conspiracy to overthrow democracy	Communist
Totally dominates...	News media	Poetry
Position on sex	"It's better to like pretty girls than to be gay"	Actually, being gay is fine, and certainly better than 'berlusconismo'
Position on the Mafia	Ambiguous	Anti
Favourite name for each other	Unwashed gypsy-lovers	"the monstrous and extreme version of the Italian everyman"
Libyan Refugees	Send them back	Teach them glassblowing
Economic position	Business knows best	Water belongs to the people

Of course, the facet of Vendola that international media has found most saleable is that he is gay.

The situation of gay people in society, it seems to me, falls somewhere on this scale:

1. Sodom and Gomorrah
2. Unnatural Acts
3. Love that Dare Not Speak Its Name
4. Milk
5. Are you Being Served?
6. Will and Grace
7. Perry vs Schwazenegger
8. Incredulous Future Schoolkids

Britain, I'm happy to say, is edging into category seven along with Scandinavia, Canada and the Blue States (California, Vermont): the Red states, along with the US military, are being dragged unwillingly out of the 2/3 range. Italy seems to be trying to break from 5 into 6.

In some ways the situation has parallels with America in 2008. Vendola is charismatic, idealistic and good with words. Can Berlusconi, like Bush, be so terrible that his country is able to swallow its biggest hang-up for the sake of getting someone else?