"European interference"

Rarely does the BBC front a news bulletin with affairs EU. So when, yesterday evening, BBC Radio 4 gave the EU parliament pole position and then went on to do a lengthy feature, one could easily imagine that some major crisis was afoot.However, one should never underestimate the "social-liberal" conscience of the Beeb, so it should have come as no surprise that what brought it to the barricades was the latest development in the Italian "war" against the Roma.What has happened now is that Italian government has decided to fingerprint the residents in the 700 or so encampments dotted around the outskirts of major cities such as Rome, Milan and Naples, where an estimated 150,000 Roma live, mainly in squalid conditions.Although – quite rightly – Berlusconi's government says that this measure is needed in the battle against the... [read full story]