In short, the two men may be inextricably bound together: in good times and in bad and, as Mr Berlusconi may have reflected this week, in sickness and in health.

ECONOMIST: Silvio Berlusconi's future

If marriage is to fulfill its aspirations, it must be defined by the commitment of one to another for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health not by the people it excludes.

ECONOMIST: Gay marriage

Decade by decade over the course of this century and before, in war and in peace, in sickness and in health, government in the advanced industrial economies has done nothing but grow.

ECONOMIST: The visible hand

Some argue that the sexual organs, both physical and mental (for, as the old saw has it, the most powerful erotic organ is the mind) need a test drive to make sure the chemistry between a couple means they will stay together both in sickness and in health.

ECONOMIST: Chastity before marriage may have its uses after all

Haunted by a tragedy in her own past, fearful that if she doesn't help Gary he will leave her, she hauls logs out to Caribou Island in good weather and terrible storms, in sickness and in health, to patch up their marriage while building the kind of cabin that had brought them to Alaska in the first place.

ECONOMIST: The many miseries that shape a marriage

The report recommends that targets for sickness absence should be reintroduced in health trusts and should include specific targets for long-term sickness absence levels.

BBC: Sick leave in NI public sector costs economy ?149m

Trade surpluses and deficits have never been, in and of themselves, signs of an economys health or sickness.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

The International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization say 28 emergency workers died of radiation sickness in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

CNN: Chernobyl's 25-year shadow