It would seem hugely more practical, in the modern world, for the government to extract money as precisely as it can from the rich and use the proceeds for the welfare of the poor.

ECONOMIST: A survey of Islam and the west

Although some of the improvements in public services the government has promised will come from new buildings and modern equipment, most of it will depend on retaining good people, persuading them to work more efficiently and recruiting more like them.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

Put your hands together, therefore, for a country which has undertaken three original and far-sighted reforms to bring credibility to its monetary policy, stability to its public finances and prudence to its government accounts, and has thus transformed itself from one of the great disasters of modern macroeconomics into an object lesson in the conduct of economic policy.

ECONOMIST: New Labour, New Zealand | The

But as government-funded art centers sprang up, giving access to modern materials, the work moved away from dot painting and became more experimental -- incorporating brighter colors and a more painterly form.

CNN: Aboriginal artists ignore spotty art market

Community safety and legal affairs minister Roseanna Cunningham said the scheme was part of a wider programme from the Scottish government's which "seeks to ensure that we have a modern justice system that is fair, accessible and efficient, and better meets the needs of the people of the Scotland".

BBC: Text reminder for Scottish court witnesses

Rather than importing imams from Turkey and elsewhere the government wants them to be trained at German universities, which will impart modern values alongside religion.

ECONOMIST: Immigration in Germany