As is always the case, the closer you get to an issue, the more complex it is. Chileans are arguing about how to make their society a more equitable one. Peruvians worry about a pause in the country’s spectacular growth, and public opinion polls show that Peruvians think corruption is the biggest challenge facing the country. The Colombian government is both negotiating with the FARC and dealing with an agrarian sector that feels it has been left out of the boom.

On the first day of China's annual trade event with Arab states, an expo that aims to bolster natural-energy imports and foster economic relations, some are calling its promotion of a "harmonious" society in the restive Middle East a departure from its traditional policy of non-interference in international politics. Domestically, the term "harmonious society" is often used in political speeches and public-service ads to illustrate Beijing’s vision of an economically sated – and dissidents say, politically obedient – homeland.

Germany's elections may be generating shrugs of apathy at home, but they are being watched closely by electorates and governments all around Europe, who know that these elections perhaps matter more to Germany's neighbours and partners than they do to its own citizens. From the Mediterranean countries, with their shell-shocked economies, desperate for a bit of respite from austerity, to the northern nations wondering how serious Angela Merkel is about institutional reform of the European Union, a whole continent is waiting to see how the votes come in, and what it will mean for them.

Yet Mr Carney’s more serious point was that UK productivity, which has been trailing other major advanced economies for decades, is no higher today than it was in 2005, when Mr Bugg got his first guitar. This appears to be the longest period of stagnation in UK productivity growth on record. Economists have widely described this phenomenon as a “puzzle”, a word they tend to use for any trend that breaks with past norms.

The race course sits on the wide grassy plains that stretch out among the hills of the Upper Hunter Valley. On a bright winter's day, it is a beautiful spot and there is a fair crowd enjoying a few beers, a burger and a bet. Amid the waft of the fast food cart, there is that unmistakable aroma of horse, as sleek and muscular colts and fillies thunder around the track.

Abukar Abdulle Mohamed is a busy man. His three phones keep beeping away as he negotiates and shakes hands with a group of mainly middle-aged men. Fifty-four-year-old Mohamed is a livestock trader with more than thirty years experience and has just sold his tenth goat of the day at Hawl Wadaag livestock market in Mogadishu. But he isn’t holding wads of cash in his hands to show for the day’s sales.

When the economic history of the decade is written someday, there very well may be a chapter about the spring and summer of 2013, when money that had been pouring into emerging market countries shifted the other way. Recently, the economies of emerging markets are looking dismal with both currencies plummeting in value against the dollar.

As a regional middle power perched on the crossroads of the Indo-Pacific region, Australian diplomacy has entered a more challenging era.