It would be nice, too, if small companies were in better shape, the yen not so strong, consumer demand more brisk, companies less concerned with paying off debt, and the whole economy not so dependent on exports to China.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood: Eastward ho! | The

Collingwood, workmanlike as ever, was joined by Owais Shah, who played some wonderful wristy strokes, and they ensured England's innings did not lose momentum with a brisk partnership of 30 - but it was Mascarenhas who unleashed the pyrotechnics.

BBC: England thrash Kiwis in Twenty20

In America, where growth has been brisk for years, monetary policy is stronger, but not yet a yank on the bridle.

ECONOMIST: Investors should beware the tug of higher interest rates

Otherwise, even a return to brisk economic growth (something that scarcely looks likely right now) will not be enough to rescue them from the breadline.

ECONOMIST: Joblessness in America

Not even the cheeriest economists expect East Asia's rebound this year and next to be as brisk as in 1999 and 2000.

ECONOMIST: East Asia's economies

As the economy has continued to expand at an unexpectedly brisk pace, so Japanese stocks, many of which were priced as though they would not be in existence for very long, have jumped.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood: Eastward ho! | The

That rings about right: not only is Mahathir a trained physician, but as leader for the past 17 years, he has generally been brisk, modern, quick to diagnose and even readier to prescribe.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia