Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Italy: far-right government has no answer to deepening poverty
Unable to stand up to the banks, Giorgia Meloni’s administration cannot agree to a minimum wage and has already cut essential benefits programmes, plunging thousands into turmoil, reports NICK WRIGHT
(From left) The League's Matteo Salvini, Forza Italia's Silvio Berlusconi, and Brothers of Italy's Giorgia Meloni attend the final rally of the far-right coalition in central Rome, Thursday, September 22, 2022

HERE in Italy, when our good neighbour Carlo invited us to a feast in the village square, it seemed a good idea to accept.

Carlo, a retired bus engineer, is “assessore” to the commune and was elected on the non-partisan citizens’ list organised by our mayor Simone.

Carlo had organised a table, and from our little borgata of half a dozen houses down the hill from the village centre, there would be seven of us.

Qatargate scandal continues to unfold

Minimum wage row

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Monica Crowley, White House chief of protocol (obstructed at left) greets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, upon arriving to meet with President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, August 18, 2025
Features / 28 August 2025
28 August 2025

US tariffs have had Von der Leyen bowing in submission, while comments from the former European Central Bank leader call for more European political integration and less individual state sovereignty. All this adds up to more pain and austerity ahead, argues NICK WRIGHT

Guillaume Périgois
Politics / 14 August 2025
14 August 2025

Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer listens to a question from the press, after making a statement in Downing Street, London, July 29, 2025
Neoliberalism / 31 July 2025
31 July 2025

Deep disillusionment with the Westminster cross-party consensus means rupture with the status quo is on the cards – bringing not only opportunities but also dangers, says NICK WRIGHT

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is accompanied by councillor Brian Collins (left) and the Head of Kent County Council, Linden Kemkaran (right) as he poses for a photo with members of Kent County Council, County Hall, Maidstone, July 7, 2025
Features / 17 July 2025
17 July 2025

Holding office in local government is a poisoned chalice for a party that bases its electoral appeal around issues where it has no power whatsoever, argues NICK WRIGHT

Similar stories
Guillaume Périgois
Politics / 14 August 2025
14 August 2025

Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trum
Features / 19 December 2024
19 December 2024
From Maoist student provocateur to Brussels bureaucrat, Jose Manuel Barroso now emerges to push European rearmament and the Atlanticist dream of a forever war with Russia to the tune of billions of euros, writes NICK WRIGHT
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage smoking outside the Westminste
Features / 12 September 2024
12 September 2024
As angry voters reject austerity, social insecurity and endless war across Europe, the left should be the beneficiary instead of the far right. NICK WRIGHT looks at the ideological hangups holding us back from connecting to these dissenters