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You probably don’t have much time for Mr Berlusconi, either. His leadership of Italy has been notable more for its female than its fiscal content. Politics can be a dirty business anyway; peeling away the layers of the European Onion is revealing much of what we suspected lay under the outer surface, eye-watering fraud and stinking incompetence. The European end game has begun.

That is no reason for gratuitous personal insults and rudeness. The first rule for a collapsing marriage is that the parties should be polite to each other. It does not guarantee a revival of love but it does permit rational and decent discourse while the shackles of the union are dismantled. The behaviour of the German Chancellor, of whom I have always been a supporter, and the French President at their recent press conference was a disgrace.

People in top jobs invariably find that the power which they confidently expected to enjoy is pretty ephemeral. That is why so many of them redecorate their offices and buy expensive furniture; there are few other real decisions that they can make. For all the impotence of being boss there is still the influence of example, something our leaders have often appeared to forget in recent years.

Public exposure brings with it responsibility for setting a good example, whether you are a politician, a footballer, head of some international monetary organisation or a celebrity chef. All enjoy the limelight as a consequence of their achievements. All should give back a minimum of politeness and good manners as their contribution to educating and motivating the young, their own included.

The world’s finances are in a mess because the world’s leaders have short-changed their constituents for too long. Recovery from this situation – if possible at all – will only be achieved by rational, civilised behaviour. Not sending up a whole nation with a smirk may seem a very small contribution to this effort but it is an essential one.

Leaders who do not understand the importance of genuine stature are not fit to lead. That stature is achieved not from adoration and obedience but from respect for the personal behaviour of the role model. Sloppy personal behavior has long been thought of as irrelevant to good leadership. Well, it isn’t. It is the manifestation of a right to tell others how to behave that a leader’s own behaviour, while never expected to be perfect, is considerate and mannered.

Do not smirk over the names of your partners in public or even in private. Who they are personally is less relevant than whom they represent and Italy is and will continue to be a great nation.

Whether Germany and France will be remains to be seen.