Italy

I've missed Silvio Berlusconi and suspect you have too. Sure, I wouldn't want him running my country but it seems important that he be able to remain on the international stage for some time yet; It is a rather unorthodox argument for being elected, but in image-obsessed Italy it just might work. Famously outspoken Italian opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi has claimed that right-wing politicians are more attractive than their left-wing rivals. The centre-right's candidate in this weekend's national elections said the Left had "no taste" in women. He said that when he looked around parliament, he found female politicians from the right were "more beautiful", the BBC reports. "The left has no taste, even when it comes to women," he said.

As any newcomer to DC must, Megan McArdle bemoans the relative lack of decent pizza in Washington: To a lifelong New Yorker, there is no other sort of pizza than the large, thin, New York slice. We may disagree amongst ourselves about the theological details--crispy or floppy, thick border or thin, sweet sauce or spicy, and how much grease is too much? But basically, we're all in the same church, and it's a highly localized one. Chicago pizza may be a fine foodstuff, as long as one consumes it without trying to imagine that it is actual pizza. But it is no substitute for the One True Faith. Well, sure, the Chicago Deep Pan is a different kettle of poisson indeed, just as the Provencale pissalidiere is a cousin of the classic Neapolitan pizza.