That is to reckon without Mr Lafontaine's gifts as string-puller and master of ceremonies.

ECONOMIST: Germany��s Social Democrats

But they reckon without the influence of his determined buddy Costa, who puts all his considerable social networking skills to promoting what turns out to be the ultimate house party.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

But that is to reckon without the shift towards Internet-based computing, and the growing success of the Java programming language, which allows applications to run on a variety of platforms.

ECONOMIST: Apple

That would be to reckon without the fine print.

ECONOMIST: Britain's public finances

But we reckon without the people, or the valuations.

FORBES: REIT Bubble

If this small sum of money is unimportant (no money is really 'unimportant' these days but I mean that you reckon you could afford to lose it without compromising your standard of living) to you and you don't mind if you lose it or not then the Stock Market might be the place for you.

BBC: Fergus Muirhead answers your consumer questions

Italy, which has net foreign debt of just 21% of GDP, would probably escape the chop: even with its heavy debts and chronic lack of competitiveness, Mrs Merkel would reckon that the euro zone could not function politically without it.

ECONOMIST: The euro

Most economists reckon that Brazil can continue to grow at around 3.5% without triggering higher inflation.

ECONOMIST: The B in BRICS

Some in the CPA reckon that the country will grow more violent if Mr Bremer insists on sticking to his method without a popular (read clerical) mandate.

ECONOMIST: Elections or caucuses?