ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Pascale Harter presents insight, wit and analysis from ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world. In this edition:

Prosperity or the precipice?
Over the last half-century, Pakistan has see-sawed between civilian and military rule and been at the centre of many a geopolitical storm. Sometimes the hard numbers - the iron economic rules, dictating how well its millions of people can live from day to day - have been ignored. Hugh Sykes, in Rawalpindi and Karachi, was moved to ask: who pays for the donkeys on Pakistan's roads – and what do they tell us about the country's political future?

Public places in private spaces
If there's one thing foreign correspondents hate to do, it's to tread the path already well-trodden. How can they scratch any deeper than the surface if they keep to the beaten track? An organised trip? Please - that's for people who are afraid of the unknown. A guided tour? That's just for tourists - isn't it?

Martin Plaut, an old hand around Africa, has seen the light in San Francisco on a trip around some well-hidden, but still open, attractions - and now begs to disagree.