The New Yorker
THE POPE EXCOMMUNICATES THE MAFIA, FINALLY, New Yorker, June 24, 2014
In some ways, it is surprising that Pope Francis made news by travelling to Calabria and excommunicating members of the Mafia. He went to a town where members of a local Mafia group, known as the ’Ndrangheta, had murdered a three-year-old boy, together with his grandfather, and burned their bodies, in a case tied up…
Continue readingWILL LE PEN LEARN FROM AN ITALIAN COMEDIAN’S MISTAKES?, New Yorker, May 27, 2014
The extraordinary success of Marine Le Pen’s National Front, in France, and of other right-wing, populist parties has, with good reason, been the main story of last weekend’s European Parliamentary elections. Running on an anti-euro, anti-immigration platform, Le Pen won a historic twenty-five per cent of the vote, handily outpolling France’s main conservative party, the…
Continue readingThe Rise and Fall of Right-Wing Populism in France and Italy, New Yorker, May 28, 2014
The extraordinary success of Marine Le Pen’s National Front, in France, and of other right-wing, populist parties has, with good reason, been the main story of last weekend’s European Parliamentary elections. Running on an anti-euro, anti-immigration platform, Le Pen won a historic twenty-five per cent of the vote, handily outpolling France’s main conservative party, the…
Continue readingHOW SNOWDEN’S REVELATIONS SAVED SARKOZY, New Yorker, April 18, 2014
One of the most interesting results of France’s nationwide municipal elections was something that didn’t happen. In the weeks leading up to the elections, late last month, a series of potentially damaging recordings of former President Nicolas Sarkozy were leaked and published in various press outlets. If the motive was to influence voters, though, the…
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