I always knew there was something of the night about the Italian Prime Minister Silvio "el duce" Berlusconi, a cross between Rupert Murdoch's devil-child and, well, a devil-child. But hot on the heels of delivering fascist insults to the German Chancellor, it turns out that Berlusconi is rather fond of the boot-boy brigade himself.

"Mussolini never killed anyone," he said in an interview with this week's Spectator. He was "a patriot, a true Italian".

More here.

I'm eagerly awaiting Tony Blair's defense of his dear Musolini-loving friend.