The Tories do not talk of a debt crisis because Britain is on the brink of one (and many economists question whether it ever was).
Alvin Hansen – the godfather of secular stagnation theory – did not foresee amid the gloom of the 1930s that the global economy was poised on the brink of three decades of expansion.
On the brink of thirty-three, he is not so much debating whether to kill himself, as his father did at the same age, as waiting to find out whether he will do so.
When Kyle Edmund, the world No 100, won the first two sets here today against David Goffin, the world No 16 and Belgium's best hope of success in this Davis Cup final, the 20-year-old Briton appeared to be on the brink of one of the most sensational debuts in the competition's 115-year history.
In 1991, when, by any sane standard, America had just triumphed unconditionally in the Cold War and was on the brink of one of the longest uninterrupted periods of peace, prosperity, and unconditional unipolar hegemony that any nation has enjoyed, for good or ill, since Rome, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a nine-part series entitled "America: What Went Wrong".
It's a 100-mile 5 hour drive (from the Cochin Airport) up sometimes terrifying switchbacks - especially harrowing when local buses come careening down from the other direction, seemingly without brakes, forcing you to the brink of hundred plus foot cliffs.
To order Far & Away: Reporting from the Brink of Change: Seven Continents, Twenty-Five Years for £20.50 (Scribner RRP £25) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846.
Here, we take a look at some of today's more intriguing rumours... Manchester City are reportedly on the brink of signing two strikers as Manuel Pellegrini prepares to act on the shortage of goal scorers at Eastlands.
James Beattie's calm approach to management has helped Accrington Stanley to the brink of League Two safety, says full-back Nicky Hunt.
