Mr Harper took office in favourable circumstances.

ECONOMIST: Canada

Although the technical means to achieve this are now in place, and the low incidence of the disease makes the circumstances more favourable than ever before, eliminating syphilis may be harder than it at first appears.

ECONOMIST: Going, going . . . gone?

An election was now the inevitable result - in circumstances far from favourable for Labour.

BBC: CONSERVATIVE VICTORY

Since the reform of Italy's penal code in 1989, trials have been transferred very rarely to new jurisdictions, because the circumstances in which that can happen are narrowly defined, partly to prevent defendants from shopping around for favourable judges.

ECONOMIST: Italy, its prime minister and the law