Well, that was a pretty obvious title, wasn't it?  After Bella Italia, a couple of editions ago (sorry about the delay, the new web-site was a bit buggy apparently - and address your issues about the site elsewhere, not to me) when I was less than appreciative of our Northern cousins' attitude towards the refugee situation in the Med, they are now having issues with their own, more Northern, mates.

Forgive me if I don't weep in sympathy for the Cugini - watching someone being hoist by his own petard is always amusing, in a Schedenfreudeish way. 

For those of you whose grasp of the news is circumscribed by the ludicrous divorce shouting match, the French, it was reported (and disputed - the fact is, the train was stopped), stopped a train-load (what an image in post-Holocaust Europe) of people to whom the Italians had given the relevant papers allowing them to move around Europe.   I claim no copyright or patent on the idea, having given it to the world many moons ago, and I have no doubt that Berlusconi would extend a couple of digits in my general direction were I to ask for royalties, but it's a good wheeze: if the more comfortable EU countries don't want to take their share of the burden, we'll make it easy for them.

I only glanced at the paper before starting my trip South for a nice short week, so I'm not up to speed on whether Joseph Muscat thinks we should shame ourselves by imitating the French or the Italians.   His latest crack, which continues his plunge down in the estimation of many, was that Gonzi, in affirming that we as a country stand for decency and humanitarianism, as opposed to cynicism and opportunism, is acting as the EU's personal lawyer.

Speaking for myself, I'd rather be a lawyer on the side of the angels than a shyster angling brazenly for the quick gain. There's altogether too much of that in the political field, and from the Left too, which would surprise if not for our history. 

You can tell which side is the Left, incidentally, they're the ones that screech "Nazis" like a fishwife as soon as someone gainsays them, while not being in the slightest embarrassed to  use "national interests" to scrabble in the gutter for racist votes.