Mstislav, our most dedicated gardener now that Sledge rarely emerges from the Attic, has been tinkering with the carbon-dioxide balance, a dangerous but crucial sport.

NEWYORKER: Lostronaut

Blankfein appeared next to the authors of the Simpson-Bowles plan to avoid the fiscal cliff and balance the US budget while reducing the dangerous overhang of debt.

FORBES: Lloyd Blankfein As Public Statesman

"Even though the Chinese government has improved on the freedom of speech front in recent years, writing is still rather dangerous, so it's quite difficult to strike this balance, " he told CNN.

CNN: Han Han: China's rebel blogger

It's time to try something new: Time to balance the budget, rein in Washington's dangerous levels of spending and unleash economic growth by expanding energy production being held back by the Obama administration, such as the Keystone XL pipeline.

CNN: Obama's slow growth economy isn't good enough

The balance between gathering evidence for an arrest and acting promptly to disrupt a dangerous-looking plot will swing firmly towards the latter during the Olympics.

ECONOMIST: Security at the Olympic games

At home Mr Obama's dangerous diffidence explains why the health bill that now seems likely to pass, while on balance a good thing rather than a bad one, is still a big disappointment.

ECONOMIST: The Obama presidency, one year on

Mr Blair believes, as does this newspaper, that on balance it is worth fighting a war to rid the world of one of its most dangerous tyrants.

ECONOMIST: British foreign policy

With legacy countries in a state of long-term insolvency, and major banks highly leveraged and with opaque balance sheets sitting on trillions in liabilities, policymakers have resorted to one of the most dangerous solutions in the aftermath of the financial crisis: money printing.

FORBES: Billionaire Paul Singer: The U.S. Has A Big Debt Problem And The Fed Is Making It Worse