Via the Guardian, this splendid story about Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former prime minister, shows how much more entertaining politics in this country would be if only US politicians didn’t feel the need to be quite so, well, you know…

An Italian magazine announced it was to publish photographs of [Mr. Berlusconi] relaxing with no less than five young women at his Sardinian villa. In one picture he is shown with a girl on each knee. In others, he is seen walking hand in hand with one or more of his guests. The photos, some of which were printed yesterday by the Corriere della Sera, are due to be published in full tomorrow in the gossip magazine Oggi. An advance copy of the cover showed Italy’s former prime minister hand in hand with two women. Beneath the headline Berlusconi’s Harem, Oggi said the “incredible” photographs would “be talked about for years to come”…According to Corriere della Sera, the pictures were taken the Saturday before Easter. Mr Berlusconi’s spokesman said they merely showed “a normal holiday visit, with Mr Berlusconi happy and proud to show his guests the wonders of his garden”. He accused Oggi of selecting only the photos that showed the leader of the Italian right with his younger female guests.

Mr. Berlusconi is 70.