There was also that good news from the European Central Bank this week, announcing that a good chunk of the emergency lending it had offered to European banks in the dark days of the eurozone crisis just over a year ago was being repaid early.

BBC: Davos 2013: A 'sigh of relief' at the World Economic Forum

This is political territory unknown for a generation or two, after all the last coalition that Britain had was during the dark days on the World War II, over 60 years ago.

FORBES: Britain's Twofer: Vote For One Party, Get Two

For a variety of reasons, these are dark days for journalism, with the public's appetite to hand over money in return for quality reporting apparently in inexorable decline.

BBC: Good news - journalism matters

Over and over, I heard similar sentiments from the people who supported me during those dark days.

NPR: The Hardest Work You Will Ever Do

Both films played primarily to older male audiences (who are also seeing "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Gangster Squad"), and they may have cannibalized each other over their first three days.

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