The average age of peers is 68….and a very nice age to be I can tell you. But very few of us have school age children and yet we keep school holidays in the House of Lords. Bizarre isn’t it? I thought at first it must be for the staff…considerably younger than us of course…
Since I first came to Italy 45 years ago, there has been a dramatic shift in Italian society. The collapse of the Roman Catholic Church as a forceful power in people’s lives has been dramatic. The loss of belief among younger generations is most notable among young women and now only about 5-7% of the…
I’ve just returned from watching the last of the olive harvest in Lucca, thankfully all gathered in before torrential rain caused landslips and destruction all over our area. And also with brilliant timing to avoid today’s general strike in Italy. Strikes are common in Italy, the consequence of an outdated system of labour relations and…
I’m watching events in Italy with some trepidation and on Thursday I’m going to see for myself how matters are unfolding in our little corner of it. The general rejoicing at Berlusconi’s departure won’t of course automatically bring in a government able to tackle the grievous structural problems and zero growth. Even putting in Mario…
As soon as recess began yesterday we came down to Italy for a few days change from what has been a depressing few weeks in the Lords. I have a completely different take on what happened in the last stages of the passage of the PVSC bill from Lord Knight. But before I get onto…
