*the lesson today is top free equality

A month ago, Italian magazine Chi published photographs of Italy’s Schools Minister, Stefania Giannini, sunbathing topless.

Ms. Giannini is 54 years old and looks fabulous.

Not many female politicians have been photographed semi-nude, although Ukraine’s Olga Lyulchak was a recent victim of the iCloud photo hack. She simply laughed and shrugged it off. ‘I’ve nothing to be ashamed of’ she said. And she’s right.

And a long time ago on SLN we reported on Angela Merkel as a young nudist (although the photograph has never been authenticated).

Which in turn has led to a photoshop job suggesting that Merkel and French President Fraincois Hollande might go swimming at these European get togethers…

(Former) Spanish politician Olvido Hormigos even went as far as posing for a magazine (you can pretty much find all these stories in out back pages…)

while wife of former Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau was photographed with Mick jagger showing more than (or as much as) she expected to, the photo in part causing her husband to lose an election.

I actually like it when ‘news stories’ like these break. Too often our politicians give the impression of being automatons who couldn’t find fun if Walmart/ASDA had an entire aisle dedicated to it. In the swinging 60s, none of our politicians had tried ‘pot’? In the 70s, they tried it once and didn’t like it, or didn’t inhale? Ah, come on, who are you all trying to kid!

So when a high profile politician in Italy goes topless on vacation, it humanises her. It also empowers all women of her age to think ‘yes, it’s perfectly acceptable to do that’. Ms Giannini, we salute you.

Pookes