I live in Italy. I work in Italy. Unlike many native Italians, I even pay taxes in Italy. What I don't do, because I'm a resident but not a citizen here, is vote in Italy. This is fairly galling when elections are held and important choices are being made. But it doesn't mean I don't express my political opnions by other means. Isn't that what blogs are for? So I reacted to the recent victory of Silvio Berlusconi in my usual thoughtful way by publishing a photograph of the elderly statesman stark naked (even sans hairpiece) on some private beach somewhere, clutching what looks like toilet paper or a pair of panties. He's in pretty good fettle for a man his age and the only offensive aspect of the post is the title, which refers to emperors and new clothes.
So it came as a surprise this morning when I received an email from a web company called Entrecards, telling me that they'd suspended the account of my blog (http://charles-lambert.blogspot.com) because it has 'adult content'. They must be referring to the modest todger of Italy's new prime minister. Well, I've often hoped that my blog did have adult content of some sort, but I hadn't imagined it might be Berlusconi's penis.
This reminded me of something I was once told about the British Council's email filter, designed to keep out images of human flesh by assessing the ratio of it to the rest of the image. It's so effective that bald men can't pass through.
