Keep it in the family

Radio 4 yesterday was talking about the influence of family and friends on a young person's choice of career. Bermondsey, a sociologist said, used to be inhabited by families of dockers and when they left, they were replaced by families of criminals. A criminologist from Oxford University backed her up, saying that that crime does run in families, particularly in Calabria and Naples where there's a very low conviction rate as the families don't break ranks. Sicily, he said, was different: the mafia network there is structured on an individual rather than a family basis (the mafia is one's second family, or first, depending on how you look at it). This reminded me of an anecdote about Silvio Berlusconi. He was introducing his new Party chief in Sicily to a large delegation. "I have great pleasure in the appointment of Signor X here in Sicily and...let me tell you something...he really has his hands in the pasta..." At this stage there was a gasp from the crowd as this phrase has mafioso connotations in Italian. Berlusconi went on, "...he's a gynecologist!"