Treasury ministers want to stand firm on the principle but be flexible on the practice - examining ideas to roll over unused tax relief from one year to the next or allowing tax free lifetime legacies.
In fact, as employees become ever more differentiated, pay may go the same way as prices: something that cannot be set centrally or uniformly, either by governments or big companies, but has to be flexible, differentiated and sensitive to local conditions.
His fiscal discipline turned out to be flexible but, for better or worse, Mr Osborne's seems adamantine.
Security is the other area where Sharif faces high expectations, but will be forced to be flexible and accommodating to competing interests.
He said hospitals needed to be given time to adjust and the government needed to be flexible, but, given that leeway, added there was no reason why it should not work.
But the plant is designed to be flexible, so it can add new models, or cut back production if necessary.
It is moving to a new set of rules, but whether their interpretation will be benignly flexible or destructively rigid remains unclear.
The president hasn't said anything about this or any of the other versions of a public plan floating around Capitol Hill, but yesterday he said he would be flexible and let Congress take the lead.
But a job could also be considered flexible if it offers the ability to switch roles and responsibilities within a company (as with rotating job titles), if it offers options for job-sharing, or if meetings and company events are not considered mandatory to attend, among other things.
He said some specialist farm insurers were aware of the need to be more flexible on pricing but not all companies were as helpful.
But job cuts and flexible working will not be enough to safeguard the future of Longbridge, which employs 14, 000 and makes a selection of ageing models.
That has not always been smooth, but politicians have learned that it pays to be flexible, for example by finding ways for ministers from small parties to be excused from collective responsibility on certain sensitive issues.
Governments will be sorely tempted to protect workers, but a flexible, well-educated labour force is likely to fare best in the transition.
But Riedel said the benchmarks and strategy needed to be flexible.
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Wilson could be effectively flexible in getting things done but would sometimes latch on to a cause with a manic all-or-nothing fervor that led to spectacular defeats.
But the Georgian Church told its leaders to be more flexible, giving its moderate members, such as Irakly Alasania, a former ambassador to the United Nations, a perfect opportunity to withdraw from the embarrassing street theatre.
Of course, you have to be flexible to work it out, but the big idea has to be so strong, it has to go through fire and still emerge exactly how you wanted it to be.
But America's labour market may not be quite as flexible this time.
The Chinese authorities have said that they will move to a more flexible exchange rate, but they will not be rushed, because the country's financial system is not ready.
It's hard on everybody but the work is necessary to enable our supply to be more flexible.
But what we really wanted to do was be able to be flexible with our income-oriented allocation.
Iran's censors are more flexible than is often supposed, but they can be imperious, quixotic and, on occasion, pointlessly vindictive.
The goal of creating flexible labour markets should not be abandoned, but in future the ways in which inflexible labour markets are loosened up should be given more thought.
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But Bernanke also said the Greenspan Fed has shown a willingness to be flexible and entertain new ideas when necessary.
The flexible, rubberised band was meant to be showerproof but Jawbone discovered it was being overflexed by users, causing cracks in the circuit boards and allowing water to enter.
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