The Dutch, Belgians and French have special grounds to worry: in each of those countries, second generation immigrants said they felt more discrimination in the job market than their first generation elders.

ECONOMIST: European politics

"We decided to deploy extra resources from our special operations teams on the grounds of patient safety, " he said.

BBC: Tent set up as ambulances queue at Norfolk and Norwich

Yet as the special report on the waste business in this week's issue argues, there are grounds for optimism amid the mounds of rubbish.

ECONOMIST: The waste industry