"I have the strong impression," the editor writes, "that Berlusconi has left Italy exactly as he found it: disheartened and confused, corrupted and full of injustice". Veneziani continues pitilessly: "Italy goes on with no braking, acceleration or change of direction. Berlusconi was not the cause nor the cure of this decadence".

And what about revolution, so many times announced? It's somebody else's fault if it has not been reached. Of course, it must be judges', allies', occult powers', global crisis', prostitutes' fault. "Berlusconi did not produce the promised modernization nor the feared devastation."

Nothing has really influenced the course of history, gloomily Veneziani observes. "Berlusconism does not leave dead on the ground, nor disaster, nor political inheritance, no leaders or works destined to last. It just leaves the vacuum that had been artificially filled, it leaves the country to its tired routine, between decay and depression. "

Disconsolate, inevitable conclusion for Veneziani is: "Berlusconi goes down in history, the Berlusconism goes into oblivion. Italy remains what it was, though sadder and older, a little more 'slut', a little more 'thief', culturally left-winged, morally fake bigoted, uncivilly civilised".

(Steve Bell's balloon, the Guardian, UK)