Speaking of school, it brings to mind those pupils who would get distracted whilst the teacher was explaining, the ones who chatted with their classmates and missed the crucial bit – the very part the teacher was bound to test them on. ‘Cuts to schools? I didn’t know anything about it, and I’m the party secretary.’ Matteo Salvini – who is, in fact, also a deputy prime minister – has been given a red mark in the register. Sent back to his seat, he turned to the one who is supposed to be the class swot, Valditara, and asked, ‘But did you know anything about it?’
Now they will try to make up for their shortcomings during the general review taking place in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. “We will try to reverse the cuts.” Valditara, who is the minister for education and merit (but is that even possible?), is trying to shift the blame onto those who came before him: “It was Draghi who made the cuts.” In the meantime, however, there must be something in the budget law if they intend to “eliminate the cuts”.
What they ought to cut, in the meantime, are certain additional responsibilities assigned to the ministries. The ministry of Education, for instance, which has also become the ministry of Merit – in this situation, given what is happening, I would revert it to its original definition. Then there is food sovereignty, a noble term which, in politics, however, echoes a concept that grates on my nerves.
They decided to add that phrase at the ministry of Agriculture, where the current minister, on the subject mentioned above, has added some marvellous remarks.
Now the Italian diet regards the tomato as one of its cornerstones: in Italy, when tomatoes are in season, they are harvested by hordes of underpaid, enslaved immigrants with no rights, all with the sword of Damocles of forced repatriation hanging over their heads. When, however, they are not in season – as is the case now – they arrive directly from abroad, with the Netherlands leading the way. How can all this be reconciled – if indeed it ever could be – with Italian supremacy in agriculture and food?