• The Magritte Effect

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    I’ve already referred to this phenomenon earlier in the campaign. I’m calling it the Magritte Effect – the moment when you are told something but the picture and the clues before you are telling you a diametrically opposite story. This campaign more than any other has given us a steady dose of Magritte effects –…

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  • The Coalition Lie

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    As I said, it was inevitable that the attacks on Alternattiva would take a turn for the worse as the election got closer. The inevitability is also the result of two particular traits of the main parties. The Nationalist party thrives on the belief of being the “obvious” choice and therefore that most voters voting…

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  • Vote AD, get AD.

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    So it begins. It was inevitable that the moment the PN would start to see a tiny sliver of hope it would turn on alternattiva voters like there’s no tomorrow. It has happened before and it will go on happening with the timing of a swiss clock (did I say both swiss and clock in…

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  • L’antipolitica

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    Italy’s election result was not a great surprise insofar as Grillo’s M5S movement was concerned. By the time the election came round it was clear that the Grillini (though not all would be happy to be called so) had managed to garner a significant portion of the vote and that they would have an important…

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  • The Barrel’s Bottom

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    Did you ever wonder where we got the expression “scraping the bottom of the barrel”? Why the barrel? What’s wrong with the bottom? Well it comes from the time when fruit – apples for example – were stored in barrels and the apples that would be left at the bottom of the barrel would be…

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