For those skeptical that Canada (or any country for that matter) has no need of an unelected head of state, the quiet dignity that Queen Elizabeth II brought to her visit to Ireland is grounds for serious second thought.

How the Queen helped to close the sad and sordid seven century long struggle between Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Thanks to Mary of London for sending this in.

Financial Times  -- The Queen in Ireland: A sovereign’s debt
There was a symmetry to the coincidence. Garret FitzGerald, the Irish statesman who cleared the first, dense thickets on the path to reconciliation in Northern Ireland with the Anglo-Irish agreement of 1985, died on Thursday aged 85, just as another 85-year-old, Queen Elizabeth II, crowned his breakthrough with the first state visit by a British monarch to Ireland for a century.

Unfortunately, there is no monarchy to save the market mess that the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is unleashing.  How it might end.

Telegraph -- How the euro crisis end game might look
Unfortunately, continued use of ratings for regulatory and asset allocation purposes ensures they remain as powerful a force as ever.

Related.

Economist -- Strong core, pain on the periphery
THE fear that Greece's sovereign-debt crisis might presage similar episodes elsewhere in the euro zone has been borne out.