The Economist made no bones about its views of Mr Berlusconi in 2001: we argued that he was unfit to be prime minister of Italy (see article). Our case focused on his long history of legal entanglements, plus the jarring conflicts of interest that he faced from being in charge of the government (and so, indirectly, its public television) while controlling almost all of Italy's private television stations. Yet even we conceded one hope: that the businessman-turned-politician might bring in the economic reforms Italy needed and get a grip on the public finances.