Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has called the Guardian's suggestion that his government's inability to properly prepare for the G8 summit in L'Aquila had lead some to wonder whether Italy should be a member of the Group at all "a colossal blunder by a small newspaper." In response, the Guardian has noted that Italians are a criminal-loving people who should be left alone to wallow in their festering state of indolence.