The would-be assassins certainly took their time. This is the third time that the 73-year-old has held the post of Italian Prime Minister, an achievement that makes him the country's longest-serving leader. Not that that's saying much, since many of his predecessors only managed to cling to power for as long as it takes pasta to grow cold.

Italian feminists have been a bit backwards in coming forwards too. Silvio's preference for surrounding himself with beautiful women has long been legendary; the parade of topless models on his TV channels equally so.

His Casanova-like amorous adventures have also been as much a part of his pitch to the voters as his policies. He stood before them as the epitome of Italian manhood, daring his critics to wipe the cheeky smile off his face.

Only in the last couple of weeks have feminists banded together to take him up on the challenge, prompted by his remark to an opposition deputy on a television talk show that she was "more beautiful than intelligent".

Since the woman in question -- former health minister, Rosy Bindi -- is not noticeably photogenic, the comment was doubly sarcastic.

"I'm not one of the women at your disposal," Bindi responded acidly, referring to the unending slew of allegations about Berlusconi's relationships with prostitutes -- a quote which has now taken on a life of its own, appearing on countless T-shirts and posters.

Meanwhile, 100,000 women in Italy have signed a petition denouncing the premier as a male chauvinist pig who is responsible for the "cretinisation of women, politics and democracy".

"Let's stop him," it urges.

Some might say that a petition signed only by women is a bit sexist itself, but we get the point. Italian women are mad as hell and they're not going to take it any more.

Or perhaps not. The man's popularity remains undiminished. His leadership of both his party and country is secure. In fact, the only wonder is that this petition was being taken so seriously by the world's media, eager to jump on the bandwagon of what Ms Bindi herself was calling the birth of a "new feminism" in Italy.

The petition that prompted this rising was even described excitedly in some reports as the brainchild of "three prominent Italian intellectuals". Intellectuals is always a suspect word. In this case, it quickly became clear that these three collosi of the intellect were all well-known leftist writers, one of whom works for the newspaper La Repubblica, which has been orchestrating the campaign all year against Berlusconi.

So was this really a high-minded defence of down- trodden Italian women, or just another in an ever-increasing line of political swipes at an old enemy, which happened to catch the imagination of the international media on the hunt for the new George W Bush to patronise for his alleged ignorance and frequent faux pas against political correctness?

More annoying still is how feminists get so mightily offended on other women's behalf if there is the slightest suggestion that they are being judged on their looks rather than their abilities, when women themselves are more than willing to use their femininity to its best advantage if the opportunity arises, without a dicky bird of protest being heard.

Indeed, quite the opposite.

This row was happening in the same week that the RTE Guide had on its cover three female Irish broadcast journalists -- Miriam O'Callaghan, Mary Wilson and Rachael English -- glammed up to the nines in matching red evening dresses, like a sort of journalistic Bananarama.

BBC newsreader Angela Rippon probably started all this on The Morecambe and Wise Show when she came out from behind the desk and started dancing to an Irving Berlin tune. "Wow, she has legs -- and rather nice ones too," went the general reaction. Since then, female broadcasters have enjoyed playing with the tension between the seriousness of the day job and the sexier, more glamorous private woman within. It all adds to the gaiety of the nation, and only a prig would refuse to take them less seriously as a result.

But you could be forgiven for thinking that women are giving Marie Antoinette a run for her money in the having your cake and eating it stakes.

No doubt it's unfair to drag Miriam & co into the Berlusconi argument. Rachael English and Mary Wilson are experienced senior broadcasters, and everybody loves O'Callaghan. She's smart, she's gracious, she's grateful for her good fortune in life and she doesn't take herself too seriously. She's an inspiration to Irish women, not least for always stressing the lessons her parents taught her, that if you're clever and work hard then there's nothing you can't achieve. That's a message every mother should pass on to her daughters.

That the woman who is famously mother to eight children looks fantastic is no shame either. As Miriam O'Callaghan herself has pointed out, far from being bitchily envious of her profile, other mothers take pride in seeing her look so well, and openly tell her so.

Yes, I admit it: the Prime Time queen is as damn near perfect as a woman can get.

But I still think the RTE Guide's triumvirate of ladies in red -- and white, and green, because there were more matching poses inside -- would be the first to be indignant if a prominent woman in Irish public life was the subject of unflattering Berlusconi-type asides about her appearance. Many feminists still haven't forgiven Albert Reynolds for his throwaway "there's women for you" remark in the Dail more than a decade ago.

The message seems to be that a woman can use her appearance as a career tool as long as she receives only positive feedback from it, and gets to control the comments which are made about her, but that those nasty male chauvinist pigs must never comment adversely on a woman's looks or it's petitions ahoy and we're all drowning in feminist rhetoric.

It doesn't work that way. Either a public figure's personal appearance is a legitimate subject for comment, or it isn't. If it isn't, then stay behind the mike and spare us the lipsticked photoshoots. Especially when the whole stunt was organised by the people behind RTE Guide to peddle a ridiculous fantasy about women taking over the airwaves. From Radio One to Lyric FM to Newstalk, the daytime is practically a female- free zone.

Now there's a legitimate target for a feminist campaign. Broadcasting sisters of the world, unite, you have nothing to lose but your chance to appear on the cover of the country's oldest listings magazine wearing a nice frock and spangly earrings.