New Statesman, 1 October 2010
“Licensed to cut,” headlines the New Statesman. As Britain braces for the severest budget cuts in living memory, the left-leaning London weekly has portrayed PM David Cameron as 007 James Bond, with a pair of scissors instead of revolver. Inside its pages, however, all is jubiliation after the surprise victory of Ed Miliband over sibling and ex-Foreign secretary David Miliband in the Labour party leadership election. Warning that Cameron’s Tories “would be foolish to underestimate Ed Miliband,” the NS imaginatively claims that the new Labour leader “is a dangerous, charismatic and ruthless opponent.” A bit like James Bond.
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.