Still, if the government's increasingly Byzantine machinery of control and supervision worked as intended, even higher taxes and even higher public spending might be both popular and justified.

ECONOMIST: British public spending

By late last year, uprising leaders said they had no choice but to accept government supervision and enroll the area's men into the Afghan Local Police, a self-defense force that is under the command of the Ministry of Interior in Kabul and mentored by U.S. special-operations forces.

WSJ: Once-Touted Afghan Force Falls on Hard Times

"I don't think the government could ever afford to pay for the type of supervision that's necessary but it could be done by a voluntary organisation such as the Independent Monitoring Board, " he added.

BBC: Home care workers 'not properly vetted'

So rather than just tackling the gangs, Sao Paulo's state government needs to treat the underlying causes: the lack of training and supervision of prison staff, and the overcrowding and poor facilities in jails.

ECONOMIST: Tackling the chaos in Brazil��s prisons

But the current government - led by Milanovic - is taking steps to clean up the country's act under close supervision from the European Union.

CNN: Did Croatia get lucky on EU membership?

Sadly, much of her excellent work was destroyed under the Tony Blair government when chancellor Gordon Brown's profligacy wrecked the public finances and his ill-advised changes to banking supervision severely damaged the financial system.

CNN: Why Britain needs another Thatcher