Oil prices rose above $116 a barrel last week, setting another record for the world’s most indispensable energy commodity. What was striking about this latest milestone was what didn’t happen: there was no shortage of oil, no sudden embargo, no exporter turning off its spigot.

The subprime mortgage crisis in technicolor.

An innovative website using Wikipedia-like collaborative software has given people around the world to design the perfect — if sadly fictional — candidate for the United States presidency.

Will it be possible to retain a political consensus in high-income countries in favour of a liberalized and globally integrated economy? How do we persuade citizens that the rise of the emerging countries, the brightest story of our era, is to be welcomed, rather than resented or even resisted, when what they experience is financial disarray, falling house prices, recession and soaring costs of essential commodities?

And lastly, the stupidest business decisions in history.