“Are we heading for another winter of discontent?” headlines The Independent, alluding to a massive wave of strikes in winter 1978 to 1979 that brought down the Labour government of James Callaghan. As the extent of Chancellor George Osborne’s austerity drive become apparent, “union leaders will today endorse plans for the biggest show of industrial muscle for two decades”. With reports suggesting that 150,000 posts are being cut in the public sector, including the NHS, police authorities and the fire service, one labour leader has called for a campaign of civil disobedience, suggesting that protesters could block major roads. To attract media attention he said, "we need Batman climbing up 10 Downing Street, and Spider-Man on Buckingham Palace.”
The leader of Greece’s leftist alliance SYRIZA is the new bright hope of Greek politics. Steering a course between pragmatism and the rhetoric of class warfare, he has unsettled Berlin, and not just those who back Angela Merkel's austerity policies. 
Europe’s economic woes have forced us to try to understand the secret Olympian world of global finance. But now that we pay more attention to bond yields and stability mechanisms, isn’t it clear that the experts up on their lofty peaks don’t know what’s going on either? 
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is hosted by Azerbaijan, a country that is far from being a model democracy. An Estonian journalist takes a critical look at the deferential treatment enjoyed by the regime in Baku.