Beppe Severgnini
Beppe Severgnini (b. 1956) is an Italian journalist. He was a correspondent for Il Giornale in London, Eastern Europe, Russia and China and then Washington correspondent for La Voce before joining the Economist (1993-2003). Columnist for Corriere della Sera and the Gazzetta dello Sport, he has also hosted several TV shows. Severgnini was voted European Journalist of the Year in 2004 and has written several books on Italian society, the Italian way of thinking and sport in Italy. The most recent of these books, La Pancia degli italiani: Berlusconi spiegato ai posteri (“The belly of the Italians: Berlusconi explained to posterity") was published in 2010.
Updated: 28 January 2011
Never have the under-30s had to face such precarity, while at the same time, disregard for their generation has reached an all-time high in the current election campaign. 
Why, at 74 years of age, is the leader of a Western country embarrassing himself and his country and getting caught up in scandals that undermine his power and authority? And why haven’t the Italians given him the boot yet? The answer lies in a national penchant for exhibitionism whose roots go back to the Roman empire, says columnist Beppe Servergnini.