lifestyle leader

- 440%: roughly the amount of debt-to-GDP that the UK would be taking on should they move to nationalize their major banks. This would be in addition to projected deficits of around 10% of GDP. (Maverecon & NYT)

- 6.8%: China's year-on-year growth rates in Q4, compared to 9% in Q3 and the lowest in seven years. How do you say "hard landing" in Mandarin? (RGE Monitor)

- $450 billion: the total value of assets shed by the hedge funds last year, equivalent to 37% of the industry. (Bloomberg)

- 5 million tonnes: the amount of rice that Thailand is considering selling from its stockpile, or 20% of the world's annual trade in rice. Depending upon how it is managed, a sell-off of this size has the potential flood the market and lower the price significantly. Good news for importers of rice, surely; less good for rice farmers. (Financial Times)

- 3: the number of times I've listened to/read Barack Obama's innauguration address. I cannot pick out a better line than the one Rory has chosen below, but two more sections deserve special attention:

"...we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals"

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America"

Yes. And the same goes for the rest of us.