- Threepenny Opera sets Last week John Paul prayed for a speedy resolution to Italy's political crisis. This week it has a new prime minister.
The installation of Lamberto Dini ends 22 days of drift since Berlusconi stepped down after losing the confidence of his alliance partners.
Dini, a former "independent" minister in Berlusconi's cabinet, is a former director general of the Bank of Italy. He spent 16 years at the International Monetary Fund in Washington and is known as a dedicated freemarketeer.
Technocrats
Dini accepted the nomination saying "mine will be a government of technocrats" whose task it is to "contribute to a sense of absolute confidence in the stability of this country's democratic and republican institutions".
He has declared his intention to form a cabinet of "people without links to political groups" instead they will be selected "solely on the basis of their professionalism and abilities".
Far from being independent however Dini is actually the man behind the pension reform proposals that mobilised millions in protest last November.
He is also largely responsible for much of Italy's privatisation programme - in particular that of the INA, the state insurance group. He is committed to keeping the privatisation bandwagon on the road.
Right winger
Although he is being hailed as an unbiased technocrat, in fact Dini has always been close to the Christian Democrats. He was always on the right of Berlusconi's cabinet.
He has already promised a mini-budget to begin economic reform and has been widely welcomed by big business.
Most importantly he wants to find £7.3 billion in cuts in the 1995 budget. Also on the shopping list is reform of the pension scheme, changes to the system of proportional representation and "transitional" measures to control the use of television.
This last aspect means directly taking on Berlusconi -his far reaching control over the media is one of the central issues in Italian politics.
If the left is able to maintain the momentum that was established last year then Dini won't be around for long - however hard John Paul prays.
By David Thomas EVEN Tony Blair now says things have got out not hand. £7 million. Who could possibly be worth that amount of money?
Well, according to Manchester United Andy Cole is and they have stumped up the cash in the belief that he will help them retain their Premier League title, thus ensuring mega bucks in the European Champions League next season.
In fact they paid £6 million plus a player in part exchange for him. Football clubs do that -swap players as if they were cigarette cards or telephone numbers. According to Cole he did not know about his transfer until 11p.m. the day betore he was sold.
Currently English football is rolling in money - or at least the Premier League is. In the same week that Andy Cole was transferred for £7 million, Third Division Gillingham, with an average attendance of less than 4,000 spectators and spiralling debts, went into receivership.
In a bizarre move the play.ers 'union' the Professional By Emma Vanden CITIES are alienating, full of hate. Places where people can only trust themselves.
The culture of cities, dangerous cities, was what Bertolt Brecht wanted to convey in his Threepenny Opera. That is also the spirit of the new Alex Ferguson: laughing all the way from the bank Footballers Association has agreed to pay the team's wage bill until the end of the season. As Glenn Moore in Thursday's Independent commented "it is as if the TUC had bailed out Swan Hunter's shipyard". Why should a union pay its members' wages?
Sponsorship of the Premier League has reached staggering proportions. Over a four year period Carling will give the league £12 million.
Lucozade lay out a million a year to be the leagues' official drink (presumably Carling don't mind!) and Citizen pay the preposterous sum of £300,000 to be the official time-keeper at Premiership matches!
Individual clubs have not been slow to join the money new Standard are surrounded by 50 video screens sharing every detail with the audience. The harsh cold light of news reportage banishes every trace of sentimentalism from the work.
A special edition of the Evening Standard was manufactured specially for the production: "From Southall High Street to Stepney Green they know him simply as merry-go-round. Manchester United earned £14 million from merchandising last year. Much of it has come from the enormous number of different kits they have worn in the past two seasons.
Indeed they launched a new away strip two days after Christmas - ensuring that any budding Ryan Giggs (swoon!) would insist that the replica kit bought for them was no longer any good and could they have the new one please.
Even Tony Blair - not known for his condemnation of market forces - was forced to comment "Loyalty does not seem to be enough any more; rather it is exploited to make us pay more".
The massive influx of cash into the Premiership over the past three seasons has led to worrying developments for spectators. Leading clubs seem to have taken a conscious decision to change the social basis of the people who attend matches.
In London it is now virtually impossible to watch a top game for less than £12. Children, the unemployed and O.A.P.s who used to be admitted at half price now have to pay the full whack on the basis of that they are occupying a seat rather than a yard of terracing.
This means that a whole section of working class fans are excluded because they can no longer afford the admission fee. Unlike the 1980s, when top games were screened live on ITV and BBC, supporters are unable to watch their teams live on television. Sky has exclusive screen rights to live Premiership matches.
Football clubs should be, and in the past sometimes have been, part of the local community.
Changes in the organisation and structure of football in the past period have pushed fans, particularly working class fans, further away from the clubs they support. It's about time we reclaimed the game!
Evening Standard