Category Archives: politics

Half a loaf

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Charles Lambert

There’s room for both celebration and exasperation in Italy’s new civil unions legislation. Let’s start with the good stuff. It’s been a long time coming and the fact that it’s arrived, albeit limping and mangled, is worth a raised a … Continue reading →

Posted in gay, italy, politics, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Two weeks in Budapest

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Charles Lambert

We’re staying in a very attractive top-floor flat just off Andrassy ut, between Heroes Square and the House of Terror. Andrassy ut is what’s known as a good address, with its cluster of designer outlets at one end, the Opera … Continue reading →

Posted in holiday, politics, travel, travelling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Words

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Charles Lambert

If I had a thousand pounds for every time I’ve heard people complain that the use of the word ‘gay’ to describe what these same people tend to refer to as the ‘homosexual life style’ had deprived them of the only … Continue reading →

Posted in bigotry, politics, USA, very dark cave | 1 Comment

The Slaughteryard

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Charles Lambert

Assuming you know nothing of the work of the nineteenth century Argentine writer Esteban Echeverria, you can approach this book, one of the Friday Project’s Library of Lost Books, in two ways. The first is to cut to the chase … Continue reading →

Posted in di giovanni, politics, review, the slaughteryard | Leave a comment

Recycling

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Charles Lambert

The town I live in, Fondi, has a brand new town council. Well, not quite brand new. The freshly elected mayor (with over 55% of the vote) is a Mr De Meo – you may remember him from the election … Continue reading →

Posted in corruption, fondi, politics | 3 Comments

Vatican update!

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Charles Lambert

The Vatican has been having a bit of a rough time these past few days. News arrives from Poland that the ‘miracle‘ needed to sanctify GP2 smells a bit fishy, news that has been roundly denied by B16. In 2006, … Continue reading →

Posted in corruption, hypocrisy, italy, politics, pope, religion, vatican | Leave a comment

Fuck off, Binetti

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Charles Lambert

Good news for all those people, like me, who know that the best way of getting rid of Berlusconi is to concentrate votes on the Partito Democratico (PD), but just can’t stomach it while Paola Binetti, fundamentalist catholic and – … Continue reading →

Posted in berlusconi, binetti, homophobia, italy, PD, politics, religion | 4 Comments

Personality politics

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Charles Lambert

Local elections are coming up in Fondi and the walls of the town are plastered with advertising for the candidates for town mayor. They tend to appear in pairs, like teenage girls on a first night out. They use as … Continue reading →

Posted in election, italy, politics | 4 Comments

Fear and loathing in Empoli

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Charles Lambert

This sign, which forbids entry to all Chinese who don’t speak Italian, can be found* in the window of a clothes shop in Empoli, near Florence. In an Italy that seems to have woken up and found itself racist and … Continue reading →

Posted in italy, politics, racism | 3 Comments

Man meets small spiky object. Object wins.

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Charles Lambert

Berlusconi’s bloodied nose is already an exquisitely political space, populated on the one hand by those who see the Capo’s body as sanctified ground and therefore untouchable (i.e. his supporters) and on the other hand by those who see his … Continue reading →

Posted in berlusconi, hypocrisy, italy, politics | 4 Comments