Padanian panic

The Council of Europe attracted the president of Italy, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, to the opening ceremony of its higher education access conference in Parma University last week. This was a mixed blessing, as he was pursued by the Italian media demanding his views on the new free state of Padania, and the start of the conference was delayed by an hour and a half.

But Parma's rector, Nicola Occhiocupo, thereupon gave a rousing speech on national unity and the dangers of intolerant regionalism, the sort of support from a vice chancellor which John Major can only dream of.

The hazards of international conferences were also apparent in the closing session, when English-speaking delegates turned up promptly at 2.30pm, only to discover that the French version of the programme, clearly taking a more continental approach to the lunchbreak, gave the starting time as 3pm.