Britain swings between Meloni and Berlusconi’s Italy and an earlier Trumpian America

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One of the funniest pieces to read on a day in the life of British politics at the moment was The Guardian’s summing up of broadcasters’ deepening dilemmas.

The events of October 19, for instance, were quite simply too extraordinary to be pithily described. There was a Liz Truss special, ie another U-turn, this time on pensions. There was Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s furious resignation. The Conservative Party whips resigned and then unresigned themselves. And there were allegations that Conservative MPs were physically pushed around in the parliamentary lobbies during a key vote on fracking.

How do you get that into one television news broadcast? And cover the rest of Britain, Europe and the world as well?

The mind boggles.

As ‘The Guardian’ noted, each television anchor went with their trademark style. The BBC’s Huw Edwards adopted a “sombre tone, as if he was announcing the death of another member of the royal family”. ITV’s Tom Bradby picked “bombast (and) a bruising summary”.

And so on and so forth.

It’s true that the political news cycle in Britain has become enervating – the  constant change of ministerial portfolios and allegiances is laced with made-for-tabloid punch-ups and bust-ups.

The parallels might be Giorgia Meloni and Silvio Berlusconi’s Italy and an earlier, Trumpian America except that Italy has better food and America the mighty dollar.