A Democratic Party for Italy?

As their American brethren celebrate considerable success in the mid-term elections, Italy's 'Democrats' - who so far only exist in theory - are having considerable difficulty forming a single party of the centre-left. Repubblica has run two articles in the past two days on the prospects of the Partito Democratico. They outline the positions of the key actors, which can be summarised as follows:

• The Margherita is anxious about being absorbed. In the past two weeks, there have been a number of stories about false membership cards being registered by local Margherita bosses. The tactic - which was used by the old Democrazia Cristiana to boost the voting power of different factions at party congresses - was seen as an attempt to make the Margherita appear deserving of greater weight in any single centre-left party.
• These concerns have abated over the past few days. Franco Rutelli was quoted in Tuesday's Repubblica as saying that the Partito Democratico cannot be a "mere federation, but something new". Given the fear above, support for a unitary party represents an important shift.
• The Democratici di Sinistra are still worried. Much of this concerns symbolism. Two issues are relevant. First, the Catholic background of many Margherita supporters and elites could cause schism over moral and ethical issues: bio-ethics is particularly important. If we believe the post-materialists, these issues have become, and will continue to be, extremely salient. Second, the entry of the Margherita may mean a reduced commitment to 'socialism'. In particular, the Margherita may not be able to accept a new party's membership in the Party of European Socialists.
• The left electorate wants the Partito Democratico. One Eurisko poll of July this year showed two-thirds of left voters are favourable to a Partito Democratico. Yet this is down ten percent from two years ago.
• However, elites are still uncertain. In part, party elites may be more attentive to genuine cleavages which separate the DS and the Margherita. In part, they may be concerned about maximising power.
• Convergence is being pursued by a heavily intellectual approach. There are three elements which are being pursued at the same time: a 'manifesto of values'; a periodical; and a 'party school'. All three are jam-packed with writers and academics. Whether these three routes will have the same utility as the program of the Unione used for the 2006 elections - a heavily criticised document that nonetheless served to bind a fractious coalition - will depend on whether these individuals can craft attractive looking compromises.
  

Academic jobs in the UK, Canada

I was at a departmental retreat this weekend, and talk turned to careers. We realised that it might be a good idea to pool information about the academic job market in our own countries, especially in those still-rare cases where vacancy notices are posted on the internet and genuinely competitive.

So, for anyone who's interested in jobs in social and political sciences, here are the two big resources for the UK:

1. Times Higher Education Supplement Jobs: example keyword search on 'politics' finds 31 results largely from the UK. Email alert possible.
2. Jobs.ac.uk: section 'Politics and Government' has 42 entries. Email alert and RSS feed possible.

Canada:

1. Jobs page of the Canadian Political Science association

Italy:

1. Societa` Italiana di Scienza Politica (but this may give a flavour of the market).

Business as usual

Whilst the BBC struggles to clarify its position on news-readers wearing the veil, Rai nominates a number of office-holders. In short, business as usual. For completeness' sake, here are the nominees:

• Luigi Meloni (Unione, allegedly) - vice-director, HR;
• Alessandro Zucca (CdL, allegedly) - vice-director, HR;
• Valerio Fiorespino - vice-director, TV Resources;
• Giancarlo d'Arma - vice-director, Acquisitions

I continue to wonder where journalists get alleged party affiliations of Rai employees. It seems to be a sort of common knowledge open to those in a certain field. Certainly, I doubt any of these individuals are card-carrying members of any party; affiliations seem to imputed based on friendships and career progression. For example - Valerio Fiorespino's career did well under the left (until 2001 he was director of Human Resources); it did poorly under the right. Therefore, runs the logic, he must be of the left. A very slender basis for such a judgement.

Worst. Minister. Ever

One can tell something about Italian journalism by the way in which Italian newspapers and television news bulletins treat editorials from the Financial Times and the Economist, two papers with deserved reputations for straight-talking. Yet when these editorials reach Italy, they quickly become sensationalized. And so, when the Financial Times published on its website a ranking of Eurozone finance ministers, putting Tomasso Padoa Schioppa at the bottom of the list, it quickly made the headlines and led to a ridiculous poll on TgLa7 ("Padoa-Schioppa is the worst member of the government: yes or no?").

Like many of these rankings, the devil is in the details - more specifically, in who is polled. In the case of the FT's three-star ranking of finance ministers, it seems to have been a quick series of phone calls around the office ("Each finance minister has also been ranked out of three by FT correspondents according to their political effectiveness"). The dangers of group-think are considerable. In sum, a pleasant game, but the FT's considered judgement - "has upset business and resorted to budget tricks but will probably succeed in cutting the deficit" - doesn't tell us much we didn't know before.

Accusations of bias against Tg1

"Anche questa sera e' andata in onda una edizione del Tg1 sfacciatamente faziosa". Lo afferma Giorgio Lainati, capogruppo di Forza Italia in commissione vigilanza Rai. [Repubblica]

Music for tomorrow's Bar Fiasco shift

I thought I'd post the music I wanted to put on at my shift in bar fiasco tomorrow night...

Name	Artist	Album	Year
Somebody Dance (Sven & Friends edit)	The Killers vs David Bowie		2006
Emotional Rescue	The Rolling Stones	Forty licks (Disc 2)	1980
Life o' The Party	Prince	Musicology
Hey Ladies	The Beastie Boys	The Sounds Of Science (Disc 2)	1999
Concrete Schoolyard	Jurassic 5	Jurassic 5 - J5	1998
The Don of Dons	The Neptunes	The Neptunes Present...Clones
It Blows my Mind	The Neptunes	The Neptunes Present...Clones
Evil (Rollercoaster Project remix)	Interpol	Dreamboat Records December 2005	2005
Satellite Anthem Icarus	Boards Of Canada	The Campfire Headphase	2005
I Know	The Beta Band	The Three E.P.'s	1997
Essex Dogs	Blur	Blur	1997
Tears From The Compound Eye	Boards Of Canada	The Campfire Headphase	2005
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun	Pink Floyd	Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (Disc 1)	1968
Us & Them	Easy Star All-Stars	Dub Side of the Moon	2004
Sun is Shining	Bob Marley and the Wailers	One Love - The Best Of...
4th Time Around	Bob Dylan	Blonde On Blonde	1966
Tropicalia	Beck	Mutations
Music Is My Radar	Blur	The Best Of (Disc 1)	2000
Boys Keep Swinging	David Bowie	Lodger	1979
Fistful Of Love	Antony & The Johnsons	I Am A Bird Now	2005
The Gun	Lou Reed	The Very Best Of	1999
I'm Just A Killer For Your Love	Blur	Blur	1997
Mutual Slump	DJ Shadow	Endtroducing.....	1996
6/8 War	Leftfield	Rythm and Stealth
Push Upstairs	Underworld	Everything Everything: Live [IMPORT] [LIVE]	2000
Cherubs	Arab Strap	Elephant Shoe	1999
Can't Get You Out Of My Head	The Flaming Lips	Kylie Minogue Cover - Live BBC	2002
Mr. Ambulance Driver	The Flaming Lips	At War With The Mystics	2006
U.K. Girls (physical)	Goldfrapp	Felt Mountain	2001
Come	Lemon Jelly	Lemonjelly.ky	2000
Stay Loose	Belle & Sebastian	Dear Catastrophe Waitress	2003
I'm A Cuckoo	Belle & Sebastian	Dear Catastrophe Waitress	2003
Sheriff Of Hong Kong	Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band	Doc At The Radar Station
Love Floats Two	The Bats	Silverbeet	1993
The Hustler	Beachwood Sparks	Once We Were Trees	2001
Netty's Girl	The Beastie Boys	The Sounds Of Science (Disc 2)	1999
Redemption Song	Bob Marley and the Wailers	One Love - The Best Of...
Accross 11th street (Jackie Brown)	Bobby Womack	Sound Track
The Crooked Road And The Briar	Calexico	Rough Trade Shops: Country 1	2003
Modern Parlance	Candidate	Nuada	2002
A=A	Cha Cha Cohen	Out Of Our Heads On Skelp	2003
Lost In The Supermarket	The Clash	London Calling
Pass It On	Coral	Magic and Medicine	2003
Stay	David Bowie	Bowie At Beeb: Best Of BBC Radio 68-72 (Disc 3)	2000
D.J.	David Bowie	Lodger	1979
Time	Easy Star All-Stars	Dub Side of the Moon	2004
Strugglin' Horse In Hollywood	Ella Guru	Rough Trade Shops: Country 1	2003
She's Got A Problem	Fountains Of Wayne	Fountains Of Wayne	1996
Monkey Gone To Heaven	Frank Black	Frank Black Francis (Disc 2: Treated Disc)	2004
Darts Of Pleasure	Franz Ferdinand	Franz Ferdinand	2004
Stray Dog And The Chocolate Shake	Grandaddy	Sumday	2003
In Remote Part / Scottish Fiction	Idlewild	Scottish fiction	2003
No Fun	Iggy Pop	Nude & Rude
Static On The Radio	Jim White	Drill A Hole In That Substrate And Tell Me What You See	2004
Caroline, Yes	Kaiser Chiefs	Employment	2005
Tranny	Kings of Leon	Youth and Young Manhood
Backstreet Girl	Lambchop	Is a woman	2002
This Corrosion	Lambchop	Is a woman	2002
Give Me Your Love (Love Song)	Lambchop	What Another Man Spills	1998
Is A Woman	Lambchop	Is A Woman	2002
Phat Planet	Leftfield	Rythm and Stealth
Dance Me To The End Of Love	Leonard Cohen	Various Positions	1985
A Nanny In Manhattan	Lilys	Better Can't Make Your Life Better
Mezzanine	Massive Attack	Mezzanine	1998
John McLaughlin	Miles Davis	Bitches Brew (Remaster) (Disc 2)	1969
Dial: Revenge	Mogwai	Rock Action	2001
Ratts Of The Capital	Mogwai	Happy Songs For Happy People	2003
Loser	The Neptunes	The Neptunes Present...Clones
Execution Day	The New Pornographers	Mass Romantic	2002
Guns of Brixton	Nouvelle Vague	Nouvelle Vague	2004
Track 02	Outkast	The Love Below
Track 11	Outkast	The Love Below
...and Carrot Rope	Pavement	Terror Twilight	1999
Bad Cover Version	Pulp	We Love Life	2001
Losing My Touch	The Rolling Stones	Forty licks (Disc 2)	2002
The Skins	Scissor Sisters	Scissor Sisters	2004
Turn A Square	The Shins	Chutes Too Narrow	2003
Skip Tracer	Sonic Youth	Washing Machine	1995
Becuz	Sonic Youth	Washing Machine	1995
Night Vision	Super Furry Animals	Guerrilla	1999
Big In Japan	Tom Waits	Mule Variations	1999
Some Kinda Love	The Velvet Underground	The Velvet Underground	1969
I Cut Myself	Wannabe Texans	Rough Trade Shops: Country 1	2003
Seven Nation Army	The White Stripes	Elephant	2003

Leaked BBC minutes on impartiality

This is London takes up this story about the BBC's 'impartiality summit'. The paper's spin is that the summit was an admission that the BBC is 'biased'. In particular, "the BBC is dominated by trendy, Left-leaning liberals who are biased against Christianity and in favour of multiculturalism".

If the minutes of the meeting are accurate, and if the quotes reported are correct, and if they are given in their correct context (and some of them are not - Andrew Marr's quote about the BBC being a liberal institution is meant in a philosophical or epistemological sense, not a political one), then what are we to make of it?

1. the fact that the BBC is dominated by left-wing people should not surprise: journalists across the world are more likely to support left-wing parties than right-wing parties, and journalists in the UK One 1996 study by Tony Delano found that 55% of UK journalists were Labour voters, and only 6% Conservative voters;
2. ... but this is irrelevant because journalists' values don't matter that much. People who've spent time studying the production of the media have emphasised how journalists' output is often conditioned more by the organisation they work in than their own personal beliefs. Change the organisation, and you start to learn the ropes there; eventually, what you write changes;
3. If an excessively politically-correct mindset is now pervasive in management and the structures they create, this is more worrying. In particular, the write-up of the article suggests that the beast has a life of its own. Why in God's name should Mark Byford, Head of News, have to secretly agree to help Justin Webb shore up the BBC's coverage of America instead of calling a meeting to discuss the issue?
4. This 'problem' concerns cultural issues more than (party-)political ones. The BBC has had decades of negotiating between positions on the left and right of politics. It has become adept at assuaging the fears of both sides. These points, although not fixed, have established reference points (Labour and the Conservatives). Cultural issues are much more difficult. Cultural viewpoints rarely have authoritative spokespeople who enjoy the kind of substantial rapport with their base to mute criticism. Additionally, cultural issues are much more heterogeneous, and difficult to satisfy all at once. If the BBC lets its news-readers wear 'whatever they want', is it being pro-Muslim (by allowing news presenters to wear veils), pro-Christian (by allowing news presenters to wear crucifixes), or merely liberal (by allowing them to wear whatever they like)?
   
5. This bias, however, is not 'sinister'. Those people who comment on Biased BBC often write in what Richard Hofstadter called the 'paranoid style' - they assume that, behind every manifestation of bias or impartiality, there is a conspiracy which created the impartiality, which desires to further some aim. This seems unlikely at the BBC - and the very fact of calling an impartiality summit should help critics to recognise this. (Which is, of course, why the BBC is doing it).