In a Pew Global Opinion survey last year, Slovaks were more enthusiastic than Americans, Swedes or Britons about multinational companies, with 72% agreeing that big foreign companies were good for their country, a European record (55% of French respondents thought foreign firms were bad for them, setting a record in the opposite direction).

ECONOMIST: Jobs come, but they soon go again

"He did a good job by negotiating with the opposition leaders in both suburbs, agreeing that both government forces and opposition would pull back, " Landis said.

CNN: High-ranking general defects from Syrian military

Tim Lee has an excellent post on charters and high-stakes testing at his blog (riffing off of another really good post from Aaron Swartz) which I found myself in turns agreeing and disagreeing with.

FORBES: High-Stakes Testing, Choice, and Bottom-up Education

The effete commentariat has indeed got away too long with having it both ways: agreeing that ideology has ended whilst mocking Mr Blair for trying to do good without having one.

ECONOMIST: They will follow him anywhere

So governments need to find a way of agreeing when curbs on trade can be an acceptable way to pursue a greater good.

ECONOMIST: Storm over globalisation