The General Election

A caretaker government leaves Monculi undisturbed. It is a lesson in what the European Union means. Subsidiarity has lowered all everyday life decisions to the lowest effective level, so there is far greater interest in town, province, and regional decision-taking.

Gold trading and manufacturing ties the Monculi into a high level of sophistication and interest in financial movements - local women's group outings to Dubai aren't just about the shopping; there's business transacted in gold products.

But mostly people would like a clean-up of the grosser corruption in banking, which has long been underway since the disgracing of Bank of Italy Governor Fazio, with his nasty links into the underbelly of the Church, and the bracing review of sub prime exposure of silly, former communist regional financial authorities that was carried out by Bank Governor Draghi early last year. (Why is it that always, former socialist and communists administrations fall for financial scams and get rich quick? The Federal German Government has had to do similar discreet bailing-out operations on former communist east German banks and financial entities; not to speak of rubbish Northern Rock and its farce of a Foundation).

The Monculi are keen on any party that gets the tax rate down and provides lots of jobs for newly-qualified arts graduate offspring too; but aren't we all? Deep in our hearts we know that is not a good way to go. So what is wanted from central government is discreet backing for major industry, and investment in tertiary level education in hard line subjects. Interestingly all of the faculties of non arts are imposing extra entrance examinations and limiting their entry numbers.

The Right is unhappy about Berlusconi as leader. They would prefer someone younger, more of this century, less criminal, less oriented to an ad hominem agenda. But there isn't time to organize that. Berlusconi, very like his Labour counterpart in England, cannot see his kind of politics is bent and repellent, much like his diehard electorate but not the more decent, less tribal voters.

Fini, the man who should have led the centre right, cannot lose his fascist label, though he is far less of a fascist, authoritarian statist than any New Labour politician. So the Right is splintered and the centre left, organised by Prodi, but now led by Veltroni, is up for the fight.

Prodi is a Conservative in English terms, leading an ex communist and socialist rabble that is at last pulling itself together into the 21st century. And Prodi is an incredibly competent and honest political economist with the highest quality advisorial group of politicians and financiers But then, Prodi is returning to European politics.

The Democratic Party has asked if one of the ground floor rooms in the village house can be used as their headquarters. In return for their provision of the manpower to shift the boxes of books into another room, which has been readied and freshly painted, with wall to wall empty bookshelves, and a proper contract listing all expenditures in cash and in kind, I have said Yes.

The very thought of a Monculi Electoral Commission sends bureaucratic shudders down the spine.