Stories and News

Stories and News No. 1273 Well, you know, this is stronger than me. When I read or listen to a statement that strikes me in a particular way, I feel the extreme need to imagine the scene. To see it, even relive it as if we were in a cinema or at the theater - which for me are still a kind of magic - or even better for my tastes, reread it as a story. So, I try to put together the various pieces, those connected directly to the scene, see in this case the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also indirectly, like the recent publication of a book that explains in detail how China - like the US, Russia itself, but also France and the UK - finance projects especially in developing countries in Asia and Africa, disproportionately benefiting the political groups of presidents or prime ministers. With the result of increasing corruption and instability in the nations that receive the funds, making them further dependent on the allegedly generous exploiters... oops, I meant the subsidiaries. A...

Stories and News No. 1272 Dear Aldous Huxley , come on, let's not exaggerate. I say this with all due respect and admiration. You know, The New World is still today one of my favorite dystopian science fiction novels, extremely topical, but despite what you wrote in one of your essays in the 1958 - and no one can deny how prophetic and modern it is, that is an observation valid only speaking in general, right? In this actual case, given the timing, it would be incredibly sensational, don't you think? Yes, all right, I also read the recent warning about homophobic and racist media reports about the Monkeypox virus, guilty of pointing the finger particularly at LGBTI and African people. But these are just the usual bad apples, and besides, try to be understanding. After what we have been through in the last three years, facing the nightmare of a new epidemic, it is normal to react in a not very lucid way. At the beginning I mean, it's clear. Yes, of course, I understand w...

Stories and News No. 1271 I would like to believe you. I do like I used to. I think that this naive as well as childish desire is paradoxically still in me, albeit with a feeble and now completely devoid of backbone voice. I think I'm not the only one, but as a child everything seemed easier about it: the good guys on one side and the bad ones on the other. And for those of my generation it wasn't hard to choose which side to take. Because the brave and peaceful cowboys only wanted to graze cattle and raise children, while the treacherous “Indians” shaved heads and kidnapped young women; because American and British soldiers, like future superheroes, faced evil, personified by the sinister Nazis in the last century, and saved Europe; because James Bond was fighting for his Majesty, but also world peace, while Russian spies were literally bred to destroy everything that was not communist. Communism, yes. By those on the left, especially radicals or extremists, who are often n...

Stories and News No. 1270 A little story about the death of a journalist who was trying to tell lives and conflicts considered uncomfortable as much as minor. The woman has just died and is in the anteroom waiting to meet the Creator, the great Director, the big Screenwriter or the illustrious Producer of The Human Show, depending on the protagonist's personal vision of the afterlife. "Next," announces the usher. She gets up from her chair and enters a large hall. As soon as she crosses the threshold she immediately notice at the bottom a child who will be at most seven or eight years old, sitting in a huge executive chair in front of a no less impressive desk covered with all kinds of paperwork. "Please, come on," he invites her to approach with a friendly voice. "Yes... here I am," she says perplexed and surprised. Once at the foot of the desk, the child stands up on the chair and asks her: "Who are you?" "My name is Shireen Abu Ak...

Stories and News No. 1269 Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to the famous talk show: Guess who's coming to the microphone. Today's episode we shoot in France, precisely the area overlooking the Channel between Calais and Dunkirk, and it is one of those that will make people talk, so don't get up from your seat even to pee. They will make a movie about this, they told me. Indeed, a TV series in the form of docudrama, those with the writing ‘inspired by a true story’, which is never really like that, but this is different, I swear. The protagonist of this episode is nothing less – because it would be impossible otherwise, than a migrant. Although he prefers be named as a person, or a guest like everyone else, or even a human being, this is our home and here we do as we please, right? Unleash the recorded cheers and giggles and let's go live: "The first question I ask you, dear migrant, is the following one: did you hear about our Majesty's governm...