Britain's spending review

Cutting back the state: Day of the long knives

The government has specified its spending cuts. Now it must implement them(8)

• Cuts: easier said than done(43)
• Does the UK plan for deficit reduction offer guidelines for other countries?(8)
• Our correspondents discuss the cuts(1)

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The internet in the Middle East

Don't be too cheeky

Governments in the Middle East are cracking down on bloggers(16)

• Wider use of digital technologies doesn't always spell democracy, says Harvard's Rob Farris(9)
• American anti-censorship software fails to help Iranian dissidents(12)
• Twitter and the Iranian protests (Jun 2009)(28)

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Computer vision

Eye robot

Poor eyesight remains one of the main obstacles to letting robots loose among humans. But it is improving, in part by aping natural vision(13)

• One-eyed robots may soon be coming to a living room near you (Apr 2009)(10)

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The French protests

Where the streets have no shame

The protests against the government’s proposed pension reform turn ugly(61)

• France’s unions don’t have the power to disrupt that they once did(74)
• Nicolas Sarkozy plots his comeback(73)

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Private equity

Take that

As Citigroup and Terra Firma squabble over a music company, are private-equity firms able to escape their past?(6)

• A long tussle over rules for hedge funds and private equity draws to a close(8)
• The rise of private equity(9)
• A once-revered buy-out firm goes under. Who’s next? (Sep 2010)(5)

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Convention on Biological Diversity

Pay up or die

Countries are squabbling over how to share the planet's natural wealth(9)

• Global discussions on biodiversity are all very well, but most good conservation is done locally(6)
• Our special report on the world's forests(13)
• The plight of disappearing amphibians(5)

The Moscow mayoralty

A graduate of the school of Putin

Unlike his predecessor, the new mayor of Moscow is a man of his time(12)

• President Dmitry Medvedev’s dismissal of Yuri Luzhkov cements the Kremlin’s grip on power in Russia(14)

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The mid-term elections

States' fights

Elections for governorships and state legislatures could affect America as much as the more famous mid-term battle for Congress(19)

• The would-be governors' debate in New York provided guffaws and little else(9)
• A gripping conclusion to what looked like a boring race for the Senate in Pennsylvania(4)
• Besides electing politicians, voters will decide 155 state policies directly(7)

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