Among the missing must surely be notes of discussions with Tony Blair, who may prefer to present the world with his own version of events before long.

ECONOMIST: Hugo Young

There are, however, problems to resolve: participation is not as high as it could be, with new member states in central and eastern Europe among the conspicuously missing, and uncertainty about the next round of allocations is holding back companies in western Europe too.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood

Also missing among the voiceovers intoning "they said it couldn't be done", and technical detail, is any impression of the bigger struggle .

BBC: DVD born for the Rings

Among those who keep track of slightly less high-profile missing-person cases, the story will be strikingly familiar.

ECONOMIST: The high-tech hunt for a missing adventurer