Roman revenge

I hope they break the news gently to the ailing Fidel Castro; after all, the old man is not well. And you can just imagine how the semi-retired dictator is going to react when he hears that Italian voters have returned Silvio Berlusconi to power after five years in the political wilderness ...

According to the latest available results, the centre-right coalition led by the flamboyant Mr Berlusconi will end up with a 63 seats majority in the Chamber of Deputies, and a majority in the Senate, too.

To add insult to injury, the voters have been harsh with the Communists: the co-called Rainbow Left will end up with no seats in the Chamber. Annihilated.

All of which is bad news for Castro, who developed a surreal hatred of the Italian prime minister, in much the same way he became totally obsessed (in a nasty kind of way) with Jose Maria Aznar.

At one stage, a livid Castro even led a demonstration through the streets of Havana to the Italian Embassy, describing Mr Berlusconi as a "fascist", an American lackey and calling him "Benito".

And now, look, he is back in power. See? That's what happens when you let people vote for anyone they chose ...

Photo: AFP