• Business.view: Assuming the worst

  How firms' disaster plans may fail in a pandemic

• Green.view: Illegal aliens

  Lax enforcement of the rules on importing wildlife risks harming both ecosystems and people

• Bagehot: Charm versus cojones

  Michael Gove, Ed Balls, the politics of education and the perils of preferment

• Tech.view: To rip or not to rip?

  Is backing up a DVD fair use or piracy?

• Banyan: Australia's Chinese entanglement

  For all China’s commercial charms, Australia still looks to America as Asia’s sheriff

• Buttonwood: Bucking the trend

  The end of the carry trade brings a new era of complexity to currency markets

• Europe.view: Batten down the cyber-hatches

  Securing vulnerable networks across Europe

• Green.view: Two wheels good

  Electric bicycles and scooters are relatively cheap, can ease congestion and are pleasant to ride

• Charlemagne: Those selfish Germans

  As Germany becomes “normal”, it looks a bit more national and a bit less European

• Lexington : Party-hopping

  Arlen Specter has shifted the balance of power in Washington yet farther to the left

• Art.view: The smallest, most personal of jewels

  A selling exhibition of important antique rings lends academic heft to the fluff of ornament