Dust off your crystal ball, don your Mystic Meg wig, and prepare to swallow some wild speculation – here’s 2012 before it happens

With European leaders toppling left, right and centre, the Arab Spring has given way to the Mediterranean Autumn – and it’s nothing if not entertaining, writes Cat Hanson

Andrew Williams looks back at a defining era for Italian politics as the curtain falls on Silvio Berlusconi’s premiership