The stakes could hardly be higher. Neither side appears eager for a second war, but the situation is very fragile and to dismiss current tensions as mere saber-rattling would be a serious mistake.

This compromise should be compared neither to the fragile and unsustainable status quo, nor to some idealized, universally comfortable end-state.

He's a great performer and then he's got the greatest convening power of anyone now in the world, I think, and the greatest capacity to articulate things that matter.

I'm gutted and feeling a bit lost, but I'm determined to get through it.

Certainly [opposition candidate Edmund] Stoiber would have been better received by the market because of his plans for structural reform. The government has not got much of a majority so we can't expect much on reform going forward.

One is tempted to think the fall is on the back of the Gedrman elections given it's not the best of outcomes with such a narrow majority,