The bigger picture

It is scarcely believable, but amidst all the trouble Italy is in, amidst all the suspicion of investors that the country is out of control, the Government ineffectual, there is no agreement on the new head of the Central Bank.

Mario Draghi, the outgoing head, who takes up his position as head of the European Central Bank in less than a month, favours his former number two, Fabrizio Saccomanni, as does Berlusconi. Giulio Tremonti, the finance minister, by contrast, favours Vittorio Grilli, head of the Treasury. Berlusconi's main coalition ally, Umberto Bossi, whom we must suppose to be mad, favours Grilli, on the grounds that he is from Milan whilst Saccomanni is from Rome. Tremonti is from Pavia, also in the north.

The whole lot of them must be so insulated from reality that they cannot see what this is doing. Italy is bust, the euro is crumbling, and they, like early Christian popes arguing abstruse religions points, cannot turn their faces to the big picture. It really is lamentable. Italy doesn't deserve this crew.

The reason it doesn't matter who gets the job is that he will be told what to do by Brussels and Frankfurt, who were responsible for the last budget.

I don't know if the job pays well, but I was born in Windsor, if that's any help, and can read instructions in German.