Writing about the Italian election results, a columnist in The Independent stressed that ‘The division that really damages Italy is not right and left, or north and south, or rich and poor. It is the division between the Italy that works and the Italy that sits on its hands - The Italy of the bureaucratic machinery [which] lives on a different planet from the rest of the country. To this Italy, it doesn't matter if the country is in economic crisis and is in desperate need of firm measures. . . . This is the Italy which makes even the simplest bureaucratic task a marathon of telephoning and queuing, which determines that it takes an hour to post a letter, and which puts innumerable hurdles before anyone thinking of starting a business. . . Berlusconi took scant interest in reforming this bureaucracy. So the two Italies stumble on, with the Italy that is vital and brilliant staggering under the weight of a bureaucracy it can’t escape and can’t find the resources to reform.’

Blimey. And I thought Spanish bureaucracy was bad! Actually, I’d already read a comment a week or so ago to the effect that both countries have enormous bureaucracies but the difference is that Spain’s - after a fashion - actually works, whereas Italy’s is chaotic.

I guess everything’s relative.