In the Czech Republic, a surging koruna has forced the central bank to reverse its policy of tightening: rates were trimmed by a quarter-point in January, to 2.25%, a shade higher than the euro area's.

ECONOMIST: A headache for a region's central bankers

When such practices shade into dishonesty is itself a shady area.

ECONOMIST: Scientists are not quite as honest as might be hoped

The original mitigation proposals for the Stirling area included painting the towers a darker shade and planting greenery to screen them.

BBC: Stirling Council hits out at Beauly-Denny line plan

In theory, a solar shade could provide any amount of cooling, but the researchers estimate that it would have to have an area of 4.1m square kilometres (half the size of Brazil) to offset half the warming expected over the next century, assuming no cuts in carbon-dioxide emissions occur.

ECONOMIST: Geo-engineering