September 29th

Today, I went to one of the monthly LGBT networking events. (I won't say which, as I know the person who runs it.) I spent the whole day agonizing about it: Why pay £10 to drink and meet gays when I can do that for free (plus the cost of the drinks) every weekend in the gay bars? I kept thinking I could buy that new Gary Shteyngart novel, Super Sad True Love Story, for the same amount I would pay for admission and drinks.

At the last minute, I concluded I already have five or six books on my reading list, and probably should stop buying books on impulse. So I went networking. And how did it go? Let's just say that after about half an hour, I was seriously considering running to Foyle's and buying the damn book anyway. For some reason, I just become timid and resentful at these things. I'm much less comfortable at them than I am at gay bars. And yet I keep going, because something in me cannot bear the idea of people having fun without me.

So now that we've established that I'm a sack of neuroses with a Blogger account, on to the news.

Silvio Berlusconi has won a vote of confidence from the Italian Chamber of Deputies (342-275, for those of you as numerically obsessed as moi). To which I say: WOULD SOMEBODY PLEASE THROW GRANDPA FROM THE TRAIN!!! The man's continued success is a belated confirmation of every 19th-century aristocratic argument against extending suffrage. He spends most of his time in office trying to change the criminal code, the rules of judicial procedure or the laws around officeholders' immunity to keep himself from going to prison. The prime minister should not be constantly and publicly assaulting the rule of law - not to mention common morality - to avoid jail and protect his bloated business empire. 

Berlusconi told Parliament that there is "no alternative" to his government. I'm not entirely sure why this is. Italy has a large center-left party, the Democratic Party, a catch-all collection of left-wing groups modeled on the American party of the same name. The Italian Democrats' problem? Well, I'm not totally sure.
I think part of it has to do with the history of the Italian left - for most of the postwar era, the largest party of the Italian left was the huge Italian Communist Party, which was never permitted to enter government during the Cold War. This legacy of excluding the left may weaken it within the institutional framework of Italian politics. (I feel like I'm half-remembering something I read on the subject.)

As for the Labour conference, I think everything will work out fine for Labour. My theory is that David Miliband will at least be theoretically on hand to assume the leadership should Ed implode. If they both fail, Yvette Cooper can take over. And should all three fail, enough time will have passed so that Chuka Umunna will be ready to take over. He's already been proclaimed the British Obama, so he should magically solve all the party's problems.

There's a flaw in that logic somewhere, but I don't really feel like examining it.

On to lighter matters: Glee. What can I say? They did Britney Spears. And it was pretty good, though I don't think the critics on Television Without Pity agreed with me. Glee is mainly a series of comic set-pieces, half-decent dramatic interludes and, of course, musical numbers of wildly variable quality. This week, we got excellent dancing from Heather Morris (Britney), who's comic skills are equal to anyone in the cast; an excellent turn from Sue Sylvester, ably (and shamelessly) assisted by Jacob Ben Israel; and a very funny "sex riot" scene. Kurt, Santana and Emma Pillsbury also got in a few good moments. The main downside is that Lea Michele's numbers feel increasingly tacked on - her character isn't particularly interesting any more, but she's a big enough star, and a talented enough singer, that she has to get the big solos.

Oh, and John Stamos and Matthew Morrison need to get it on.