The city budget is a tough one to balance even at the best of times.
"Nobody likes to face up to their death at the best of times, " she says.
Never far off the breadline at the best of times, Eritrea will need substantial food aid.
Prickly at the best of times, Japanese-Chinese relations have turned sour with mutual accusations of lying.
But that would be politically risky at the best of times, and looks impossible now.
Even at the best of times, navigating traffic-choked roads in Mumbai isn't for the fainthearted.
It's hard enough to sit through a Giscard oration at the best of times.
Pretty murky at the best of times, politics is becoming dirtier by the day.
Rosarno is in Calabria, the toe of Italy, a lawless place at the best of times.
Not that next week's summit would, at the best of times, be an easy affair.
The first question hinges on causation, a tricky thing to show at the best of times.
Underwater visibility in the Foyle is very poor at the best of times making identification difficult.
Opening the way to an Israeli siege would have been sensitive at the best of times.
IGC, enlargement: it would add up to a formidable agenda at the best of times.
Negative stress is not a good thing at the best of times, but particularly so in pregnancy.
This week the government said that tax revenues, low at the best of times, are slipping again.
At the best of times, statistical studies of economic phenomena are exercises in economic history, not economic science.
FORBES: Narrow focus on debt and deficits distracts us from the primary problems
Funny white men in floppy hats and red faces attract attention in Africa at the best of times.
BBC: About BBC News | This is BBC News | Here's one I made earlier
The generals are not good administrators at the best of times, and the health system is a shambles.
Nor were Britons cheered to find their commuter trains filthy and overcrowded at the best of times washed away by strikes.
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Economic forecasting is a dodgy business at the best of times, and currency forecasts are the least reliable of the lot.
Pension systems that work so capriciously make little sense at the best of times, and even less in an ageing world.
Death is an evil business at the best of times, but the circumstances and the timing of Phil's passing were just horrific.
He was staking much of his credibility on the vagaries of the American political system--a risky gamble at the best of times.
Central Africa can be a dangerous place at the best of times.
Even at the best of times, all these schemes would probably have led to higher inflation and a growth in public debt.
"Democratic elections at the best of times are very destabilizing, " he said.
Even at the best of times, Britons tend to be uncomfortable with patriotism, finding it hard to disentangle from nationalism and xenophobia.
To succeed, he would have to unite the warring factions of the LDP -- a difficult task at the best of times.
Well, it is difficult to be objective about your own performance at the best of times, let alone when one is demonised by the media.
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