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I think there is a refund form you can fill out.

Sorry it's in Italian - https://www.agenziaentrate.gov.it/po...ne-tv-bolletta

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Thanks for that.

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https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...d98548c075.jpg

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Haha! Mine is bigger than yours. I mean, my brain.

Rishi Sunak to Giorgia Meloni: by holding my hands, dear, your intelligence will increase tenfold. (Well, if there is anything substantial in your head.)

Why our PM, who went to Eton, has decided to find solace in that stupid person called Meloni is beyond me.

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I can understand why Italy is broke. We went to find out and pay for the extra property purchase tax as we aren't doing residency. At the office we had blank looks and shrugs. Eventually someone stamped and signed a piece of paper and told us it will be many months before they can work out how much we owe !

Crazy place, turning money away like that.

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Winchester not Eton. Makes a change. Not much of a change mind you.

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They're playing the long game: work on the expectation that you are supposed to know what taxes you must pay and then fine you heavily for those you weren't aware of in about 6/7 years time

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You are right. There are thousands or laws that you must repect that are broken every day of the week by almost everyone. The trouble starts when they get their paws on you.

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Cheers C.2s for this :thumbs_up:

Despite their different political views, Giorgi Meloni and Angela Rayner are in the same league. One went to an Italian vocational school and the other left school at 16. Both were single or unmarried mums when they had their first child. Both have below-average intelligence.

Angela Rayner said 'abstract failure' [abject failure] twice when she was attacking the Tories.

This is not to say they can't be excellent politicians or managers, but one can look no further than the sorry state that Italy has been in for decades. Having said that, I've also come across well-educated people with MAs or PhDs who are absolutely pathetic and who know nothing about managing a team, let alone leading it.

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Nothing at all to do with the caption competition but do you mind if I scratch this itch?
I arrived in Italy in the early '90s, at the same time as my daughter who, having had her Secondary education in England, enrolled at Ca' Foscari after a gap year. Since then I have had infrequent contact with her Italian contemporaries and, locally, with Italian Secondary school students: I have never noticed this 3 to 4 year "backwardness" you claim - which, of course; would be a terrible indictment on Italian teachers as a whole and is inconsistent with the high number of Italian graduates who find prestigious posts in academia elsewhere; including England.
Your source is the OECD but Is there a confusion with the high drop-out rate in Italy (I.e. pupils leaving without 'qualifications')?

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Sorry my bad - it is from the OCED Skills Strategy report.

I can no longer find the article on The Local containing the reference to the 2021 report, but I remembering reading that a few years ago.

Out of coincidence I've just found this very old Guardian article from 2014: https://www.theguardian.com/educatio...port-education

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Thank you for the reply, Daniel.
The "Guardian" article, with readers' comments, is helpful; in that it provides context and contrary opinions.
The one "skill" identified is "literacy". Like some of the commentators, I can't help thinking of a study with built-in cultural bias, not unlike the international University league tables where the determining criterion seems to be papers published; the universal language of academia is English, the majority of papers published and circulated are from establishments in anglophone countries.
I stick with my gut feeling: the Italian youth educated to the age of 18 is on a cultural/intellectual par with his northern European peer.
I wonder if the authors of the OECD study have read a relevant passage in Jarred Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel".