ITALY: Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi may well have committed one of his celebrated gaffes yesterday when he described anyone who chooses to vote for his centre-left opponents in next weekend's general election as a "bollocks".
Speaking to the retailers' federation, Confcommercio, in Rome yesterday, the prime minister said: "I have too much respect for the intelligence of Italians to think that they could be such bollocks [coglioni, in Italian] as to want to vote against their own interests. Pardon my rough, but efficient, language."
Inevitably, the prime minister's words prompted an indignant reaction from the centre-left Ulivo coalition.
In a statement, Ulivo criticised Mr Berlusconi for having insulted "all Italians with his language", adding: "Berlusconi has confirmed himself to be an uncouth and vulgar man. By using such unworthy and violent language, Berlusconi has thrown off the mask and shown himself for what he is: a person who uses the media like a thug and who lacks any respect for democracy, for institutions and for Italians."
Answering questions from journalists after his speech to Confcommerico, the prime minister attempted to play down the significance of the insult, saying that he had been merely ironic: "What I said, I said it with a smile, I was just joking."
Centre-left commentators, however, immediately pointed out that television footage of Mr Berlusconi's speech shows quite clearly that the prime minister was speaking seriously, and not smiling, when he used the expression "bollocks".