...the current PM of Italy, and listed by Forbes as Italy's richest man with his total assets being worth US$ 7.2 billion. Media tycoon, and involved in a wide range of other industries.

Infamous for:

• Having used his political clout throughout his business career, with the help of his good friend and former Premier, Bettino Craxi. Accused of various sorts of corruption.
  
• Being accused of bribing judges involved in trying cases of disputes involving his businesses.
  
• Calling judges in his country 'mad': http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3082476.stm
  
• Passing a controversial law this June, granting him immunity from being tried in court while he is PM. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3000362.stm
  
• In July this year, he assumed the rotating presidency of the EU. Upon being criticised by German MP Martin Schulz, his reply was - "Mr. Schulz, I know there is a producer in Italy who is making a film on the Nazi concentration camps. I will suggest you for the role of kapo. You'd be perfect." This created a huge uproar in the EU, and severed diplomatic relations between Italy and Germany. Upon being interviewed by Time after this statement, he had this to say - "I'm not a traditional politician, and I have a sense of humor. I'll try to soften it and become boring, maybe even very boring, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to." http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,465796,00.html
  

Profile of Silvio Berlusconi:
Wikipedia - http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi
BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3034600.stm

Am I right in assuming that Mr. Berlusconi's popularity here at FT is about as high as Chirac's ?

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Am I right in assuming that Mr. Berlusconi's popularity here at FT is about as high as Chirac's ?

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I doubt it. I'm a fan of Berlusconi, and I know of a number of others here who have criticized Chirac but have praised Berlusconi. To be fair, I also know of some who have criticized both of them.

I respect him because he speaks his mind, is not afraid of criticism, is non-PC in the extreme, and seems to do what he believes is right, rather than what he believes is popular.

Outrageous.

How dare he slander a German government official! Why, Schroder's administration, peopled though it may be by socialists, Baader-Meinhof-huggers, demagogues, America-bashers and other rabble, should be IN EVERY WAY ABOVE CRITICISM. (P.S. And don't mention the economy! ).

Berlusconi also made what some consider to be a terrible, sulfurous, corrosive, racist remark after 9/11, which I will reproduce here, with a warning to the fainthearted to read no further if they do not wish to have their delicate sensibilities disturbed: :

"We should be conscious of the superiority of our civilization, which consists of a value system that has given people widespread prosperity in those countries that embrace it, and guarantees respect for human rights and religion. This respect certainly does not exist in the Islamic countries."

I am with snm on this one. Better a thousand Berlusconis than one "Chiraq", official friend and trading partner of Saddam Hussein, EU bully, chastiser of fledgling Eastern European democracies, Mugabe pal, and poseur nonpareil.

"Hyperpuissant" though Chirac and his minions may believe the Yanks to be, we tend to take the necessary steps to see to it that our parents DON'T DIE OF DEHYDRATION. (And come to think of it I didn't hear anything about 15,000 Italians dying of heat exhaustion this past summer either.)

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/09/25/france.heatdeaths.ap/