We yearn for turning points. Just as economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions, so journalists have surely reported nine out of the last five revolutions. Every election is hailed as epoch-making. Every president is expected to have a new foreign policy “doctrine.” A minor redesign of a cellular phone is hailed by the devotees of the Apple cult as a “paradigm shift.”

Bank recapitalisation is essential if the euro is to be saved.

Europe is the solution, not the problem, write Niall Ferguson and Pierpaolo Barbieri.

Has Mohamed Merah saved Nicolas Sarkozy? It is, of course, a tasteless question.