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Italianshave reacted with a mixture of indignation and self-criticism after an episode of The Simpsons mocked the country as a den of corruption. A cheating scandal at Bart and Lisa Simpson's school leads Kent Brockman, the newsreader character in the long-running cartoon, to describe it as "more corrupt than the Italian parliament." He shows the principal of the school, Seymour Skinner, undercover footage of students cheating at their exams. "If these children are our future then I for one do not want to live," the news anchor says in the episode, which was broadcast in the United States this week. The episode sparked a debate among Italians on social media, with some seeing the funny side but others expressing disgust that the venality of politicians had led to Italy being held up as a synonym for corruption. | 
