In my first month in the New York office, I lost many a chargeable hour bored witless by other associates boasting of so many nights lost, weekends worked and holiday allowance left unused.

ECONOMIST: Letters

We are introduced to a band of former crime busters, now under threat: Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), the lithe but witless Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman), a moneyed fop named Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), and, lastly, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), who takes time off from merciless slaughter to narrate the proceedings.

NEWYORKER: Watchmen

Yet even deep cuts will help less than usual to cushion a recession caused by snarled-up credit markets and banks scared witless.

ECONOMIST: Public finances