to hope Berlusconi now does time? He's a shit.

[grovel]

Ciao, Silvio.

YANBU.

DH is bemoaning his departure - purely to wind me up.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Finally!

I can't believe this was after his 52nd vote of no confidence.

At least we all know his name. Does anyone know the name of another Italian leader except for Mussolini or a Caesar?

Romano Prodi

Well, the fact is, he was repeatedly voted in in a democratic process. He was there because a majority of Italians wanted him there. Which speaks volumes of the Italians...

No, not a majority of Italians, don't insult us all for the foolishness of a few. He changed the voting system to his advantage and now has only left because his companies have lost more than 50pc since the beginning of the year. Do not ask what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you.

YANBU! One good outcome from the financial meltdown crisis.

Sui - Very interesting. Could explain more about how this change to the voting system happened?

Before the last election they changed the voting system so that whoever won in each region would get a certain number of extra seats; they also removed the possibility of voting for people: you vote for a party and the party decides who to send to Rome. End result: if you win a certain number of regions you get an absolute majority in the house, even though you may have far far less than that share of the vote. There is currently a plan for a referendum to abolish that law and revert to the previous electoral law: Berlusconi knows he will lose the elections under any other system, hence the rush to try and have new elections before the referendum has time to be organised. Rough description (am on the go) but this is basically what is going on.

YANBU

YANBU. He is a sleazeball.

YABU..... I'm not Italian so don't have to suffer the slings and arrows of his outrageous management of the country. I shall miss his many gaffes, colourful private life and even more colourful hair and skin. He was to the G20 and EU summits what Anne Widdecombe was to ballroom dancing.... excruciating but compelling :)

I thought some of his comments were hilarious

GothAnneGeddes you may have one point

Given his age and the speed of the Italian criminal justice system I wouldn't put money on his doing time whatever he may have done to deserve it!