ROME—Italians are furious over a slew of memes comparing the flailing British government to their own instability. Ever since Liz Truss’s tax debacle started last week, a number of rather surly memes have culminated in an offensive cover of the Economist showing Truss as the helmeted British soldier Britannia holding a fork draped in spaghetti in place of a sword with the headline, “Welcome to Britaly.” Shortly after the cover story, #Britaly?YouWish started trending.
Some of the memes leading up to the cover story are downright funny, including references to Brexit and to Italy’s sports acumen, the glorious food and amazing weather, but most dredge up old stereotypes Italians say are from a different era. “Although spaghetti and pizza are the most sought out food in the world, as the second largest manufacturer in Europe, for the next cover we would suggest you to pick for a change from our aerospace, biotech, automotive or pharmaceutical sectors,” Inigo Lambertini, Italy’s ambassador to the U.K. said Thursday, adding that the cover was “inspired by the oldest of stereotypes.”
He went on to say, “Whatever the choice, it would cast a more accurate spotlight on Italy, also taking into account your not-so-secret admiration of our economic model.”
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In fact, a number of economists have come out in support of Italy, saying that despite Italy’s reputation, the U.K. is actually far less stable. “The concerns in financial markets about the U.K. stem from a very accommodative fiscal stance, despite budget deficits already being high and a trade deficit on the back of that,” Bert Colijn, senior economist with ING told the Financial Times in an article titled, aptly, Britaly? You Wish! “This stands in sharp contrast with Italy, which suffers from high legacy debt from the 1980s and 90s, while they have actually delivered primary fiscal surpluses for most of the past two decades.”
To say Italy’s government is stable is, of course, a stretch. But no Italian prime minister has fallen as fast as Truss, and while Italy has yet to inaugurate Giorgia Meloni as its new leader after Sept. 25 elections, it can almost be guaranteed she will last longer than Truss.
