Now you might think having $5.9 billion in the bank might make a 76 year old playboy lackadaisical.  Well I’ve looked into it and it’s not that, it’s the below…

…Yes, if you hold significant shares in three national television stations which cover half of the national sector, have a vested interest in sport, newspapers, cinema, finance, banking and insurance, and have your fingers in the pie of the leading Italian advertising agency, that might do it.  If not, owning a controlling stake in the largest Italian publishing house, would seal your fate when you start losing it.  I give you the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Call me old fashioned but, you could fall into the trap of believing your own press.  The guy has a history of court cases behind him and yet somehow he’s still managed to avoid a jail sentence.  Hopefully this is about to change.  Along with his general complacency he gradually lost the art of diplomacy and made a number of spectacular public blunders.  Please note: expletive care of the Italian twit.

In 2003, Berlusconi suggested that the German SPD MEP Martin Schulz, who had criticised his domestic policies, would be the perfect candidate to play a Nazi concentration camp guard – ooops!  And he back this up during an interview with Nicholas Farrell, the then editor of the Spectator, by proclaiming that Mussolini had been a benign dictator who didn’t murder his opponents just simply sent them away ‘on holiday’!

Moving on, in 2006, Berlusconi alleged that Chinese communists under Mao Zedong had ‘boiled children to fertilize the fields.’  And in 2010, after being accused again of involvement in juvenile prostitution, he put forward his defense saying, it’s better to be fond of pretty girls than to be gay.  Not content with angering the entire gay community he had a pop at Angela Merkel – describing her as an “unfuckable lard-arse,” which is fine if your phone hasn’t   been tapped.  Sadly for the silver tongued cavalier, his was.  Way to go Silvio!

My personal favourites out of the plethora of disastrous Berlusconi PR gaffes couldn’t have been bettered by Prince Philip.  Picture the scene. 

You lived in L‘Aquila, where you had a house, a livelihood and a community spirit.  That was until an earthquake decimated the area.  Now you’re minus a house, a job and you may have lost some your relatives or friends in the disaster.  What consoling piece of advice did soppy bollocks impart to the locals living in tents, prior to asking a councilor if he can fondle her?  He suggested that the homeless should view their experience as a camping weekend!  Like I said – what an arse…

This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2012 at 4:12 am and is filed under Neils Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.