I complained that today was nothing special no rally to restor sanity and/or fear, no Halloween (more fear) no election (the sum of all fears). Now I realize I was wrong. Today is the 18th birthday of Ruby Rubacuore. This means that her face can now be published as she is not longer a minor whose privacy must be especially well protected.

Italy's very sober establishment daily Il Corriere della Sera celebrates the event. I noticed a photo of her face on the web last night, but I didn't understand (how dense).

She is now an Moroccan Italian young woman who is in the news because Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called the police in Milan to say they should release her, because she was Hosni Mubarak's niece. Ungratefully, she is now describing Berlusconi's bunga bunga an event featuring him and numerous young women (and an underage girl or two).

Journalists around the world (OK mostly around Europe) are convinced that this is the person who will finally bring Berlusconi down (I'll believe that when I see it)

At least the names of the newspapers and TV networks are comprehensible here Ah a google translation gives just the right extra touch of further absurdity.

I hasten to assure the reader that The Guardian is not guilty of objectifying Karima al Mharoud (her real name) by referring to her as "it". when it comes to English Italian English translation and gender errors she happens to the best of us.

I am also very sure that Daily Telegraph correspondent Nick Squires has never denied having sex with Silvio Berlusconi. I assure the reader that the original is roughly as garbled as the google re-translation. The extra problem again is gender of pronouns. In Italian pronouns are rarely used for subjects, because person and number can be guessed from the conjugation of the verb*. So google had to guess that the subject was a "he" not a "she" or an "it." I hasten to add that, as far as I know, I am the first man to deny that he has ever had sex with Berlusconi.


(all verbs but "to be" have 6 different forms for gender and number in all tenses and modes except the present subjunctive (for which pronouns are used as needed) -- also one can't be something which doesn't have a clear gender and number in Italian -- If I say I am red with embarassment over my spelling, in Italian you can tell I am male).

The model, says the Rome correspondent Nick Squires, says he received 7,000 euro after attending an evening at the home of Berlusconi, but denies having had sex with the premier. La giovane ballerina di danza del ventre al centro dell'ultimo scandalo sessuale in Italia dice che sta scrivendo un libro, continua la corrispondenza.