You do need to have rather calm nerves and look at these things in a considered way.

BBC: News | BREAKFAST WITH FROST | Sir Edward George

He is gambling that his referendum promise will calm rather than stir the fury of Eurosceptics both inside and outside his party, that he can persuade 26 other European leaders to give the UK the deal he wants and that voters will then choose to back it.

BBC: David Cameron speech: UK and the EU

Quite so, at least for those who want to calm passions rather than to raise them.

ECONOMIST: The Euro-confusion in France

It's a lot easier for them to come into a room and deal with a calm baby, rather than a crying baby.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

But if the Parliament insists on pushing through a policy forged in the heat of an election campaign rather than out of the calm consideration and consultation that the Parliament's committee structure is supposed to encourage, ministers in London will have to accept the anomaly or grudgingly follow suit.

ECONOMIST: Tuition fees

For a start, it makes calm, rational debate rather tricky.

ECONOMIST: The perils of losing one's grip on reality

Others maintain he is still running last year's presidential campaign, and that he needs to show himself as more presidential, by using his position to calm and explain, rather than merely echo the public's frustrations at Wall Street.

ECONOMIST: The row over bonuses: Rumbling on | The