Che la stentata prevalenza dei “No” al referendum sull’indipendenza della Scozia non sia stata esattamente una grande vittoria è un fatto che i giornali non sono riusciti a mascherare. Anzi, il Regno Unito esce drammaticamente diminuito da questo tentativo di una parte delle sue popolazione di sfuggire al suo controllo. E che le conseguenze siano […]

    The result of the ballot about “Proposition 37” in California was released on November 7th. Voters refused to compel companies, supermarkets chains and sellers to label all foods containing any genetically modified organism, as demanded by the main promoter of the campaign, “Yes to Proposition 37” (http://www.carighttoknow.org/ ). The question. Should labeling be […]

Even the most convinced supporters of the European idea seem to have doubts these days: doubts about the outcome of the present crisis, and – in retrospect – even about former Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s hitherto universally recognised capacity to think further ahead than any of his contemporaries. Very appropriately in a moment when, faced with […]

A mixed feeling, something in between physical fear and aristocratic despice is inevitable, when one lives in fragile Venice and a menacing brutal monster enters the Canal Grande, offering the narrow strees and the delicate mosaics that pave its churches and palaces to the newly enriched masses of global tourism.

The Law of England provides a precise definition of the criminal offence know as “rioting”: i.e. taking part in a riot. But for the non-legal observer a useful working definition of ‘riot’ might be ‘an out of control mob intent on violence against persons or property’. Some observers have referred to a ‘feral mob’ and […]