We've a lot to learn from the Italians

摘要

Despite numeracy featuring large on the Italian school syllabus, it's funny how the childhood ability to add up seems to be lost when it comes to counting cows and olive trees. Our intrepid investigator Ian Potter mixes it with the Mafia men. How many beans make five? Three. And one bean belongs to someone else. Or else. Yes folks, I've just seen first hand exactly what the Italian philosophy is in life: no matter what the truth is, be economical with it. Oh, and don't forget to be polite to reallyseriously big men wearing dark glasses. They are very nice people. Honest. The FAO Dairy Outlook Conference and Intergovernmental Group's 19th Session in Rome, which I attended in early September, proved to be a gathering of key dairy policy advisors from around the world, and a real eye-opener. Apart from me there were only two other delegates from the UK, both from DEFRA's Milk Division. Italy is, of course, famous for its unique, what shall we say diplomatically, interpretation and application of the quota rules. It was not, in fact, until 1992 that the Italian Government started to take milk quotas seriously. Since then, and to date, arguments over the regime have continued. The farmers argue that the Government started with the wrong production figures, and hence allocated insufficient quota to begin with. As the bean scenario depicts, it is Italian culture not to declare anything in full. Part of this is linked to the Mafia influence, and huge black economy. We may not take the Mafia that seriously here in GB, but it's big business in Italy and ignored at your peril.