The risk in Iraq is that despite good intentions, we'll become irritated and distracted and leave the job half-done, as we did after the first gulf war and after Afghanistan, when we refused to provide security outside Kabul.

CNN: Nicholas Kristof: Running for the exits

Moreover, Carrefour's stop-and-go policy of cutting prices in the first half of the year and raising them in the run-up to the Christmas season irritated customers, who voted with their feet.

ECONOMIST: Retailing: Carrefour at the crossroads | The

So while he was only mildly annoyed that we ended up donating twice what we had planned, he was mostly irritated that I bought a dinner party for six people to be held at someone's house a half-hour away.

WSJ: Katherine Rosman on the Joys of Impulse Buying