The way in which Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, governs his country never ceases to amaze - and dismay. Far too often, his priorities appear to be personal, or narrowly party political. He has been remarkably successful in keeping his centre-right coalition together and staying in office for four and a half years.

His latest achievement has been to force big constitutional changes through the Italian parliament without any serious attempt at cross-party agreement. Yet at the same time he is bent on reversing the very electoral reforms that have brought much-needed stability to Italian governments in the past decade.