The Guardian (July 26)
“The political sphere, so dull and grey a few years ago, is now populated by preposterous exhibitionists. This trend is not confined to the UK – everywhere the killer clowns are taking over. Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Jair Bolsonaro, Scott Morrison, Rodrigo Duterte, Matteo Salvini, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Viktor Orbán and a host of other ludicrous strongmen – or weakmen, as they so often turn out to be – dominate nations that would once have laughed them off stage. The question is why? Why are the technocrats who held sway almost everywhere a few years ago giving way to extravagant buffoons?”
Tags: Clowns, Dull, Duterte, Erdogan, Exhibitionists, Farage, Johnson, Modi, Orbán, Political sphere, Preposterous, Salvini, Strongmen, Technocrats, Trend, Trump, UK
The Economist (July 13)
Matteo Salvini has in effect “been the most powerful man in Italy since shortly after he became a deputy prime minister in June last year.” His domestic rise has been “relentless,” though it is not connected “to pre-eminence by solving or showing how he might solve any of Italy’s obvious malaises.” Even more worryingly, Mr. Salvini has a very antagonistic relationship with the EU and he could very well instigate a new crisis, willingly or otherwise. “The troubling fact for Europe is that no one knows what this meteor that has flashed across Italy’s skies will do next.”
Tags: Antagonistic, Crisis, Deputy prime minister, EU, Italy, Malaises, Relentless, Salvini, Troubling