Yet in America's system of checks and balances, a choice between presidents cannot reliably be made by combing through policy programmes.

ECONOMIST: Crunch time

First, he remarked on the striking similarities between the present choice and that made by President Reagan's administration nearly a decade ago.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Which side will we be on?

In Prof Nicolelis' first experiment, the encoder rat got a bigger reward if the decoder also made the right choice, leading to two-way neural collaboration between the two rats.

CNN: Do telepathic rats advent biologic computers?

In the choice between another strategic flip-flop or doubling down on a bad bet, Whitman made the right decision.

FORBES: Reality Bites HP, and Why That Might Revive the HP TouchPad

But, if Tim Cook had to make a choice between keeping Forstall or Ive (and others like the formerly retired Mansfield), he made the right call.

FORBES: How Jony Ive Will Make Checking The Weather On Your iPhone A Religious Experience

He prospered and made more friends than enemies, which was no mean feat, and when he had the choice between becoming a judge or a candidate for a political party he chose the bench without hesitation, although it obviously meant passing up the opportunities for greater financial gain that would have been open to him in politics.

NEWYORKER: The Insufferable Gaucho