Forza Italia!

I love Italy. There's been a new edict that there should be no mentioning of the private lives of the rich and famous - particularly not the more, um, intimate aspects - such as the photos that exist of Silvio Sercano, Official Government spokesman for Prodi's Government speaking to a transexual prostitute. In the UK the press is inclined to descend into self important diatribes about the freedom of the press. In Italy? Well, Il Foglio's editor had this to say in a reply to a letter referring to the edict(apologies for the sketchy translation - I don't have a dictionary to hand):

Caro Boncompagni, per difendere Maurizio Belpietro dalla ridicola Inquisizione dell’Ordine, da oggi metto a disposizione una breve rubrica di privacy erotica della nostra comunitа. La prima è in pagina due ed è doverosamente la violazione della mia “sfera sessuale”. Contribuite allegramente. Siate brevi. No maniaci.

(Dear Mr Boncompagni, to defend Maurizio Belpietro from the ridiculous Legal Inqusition, from today we put at your disposal a brief series on the erotic private life of our community. The first is on page 2 and is, dutifully, the violation of my own "sexual sphere". Contribute quickly. Be brief. No maniacs.)