Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti had this week been on a kind of momentum tour, trying to stoke up pressure on the Germans to fallinbehind Mario Draghi's promise to act.
He may get 67 if he can yet draw in the five bearded, black-coated members of United Torah Judaism, and perhaps even more, if some of Labour's seven recalcitrants can be persuaded to fallinbehind their party leader.
Elena, who had enjoyed her status as the cleverest girl in the class, has to fallinbehind the brilliant Lila, who is as smart at school as she is on the street: she comes in first on all the tests, and can do complicated calculations in her head.