There was a sort of murmur of both recognition and despair as the fags man projected forward to a future at the check-out where customers have a quota of alcohol purchases, flashing up when compulsory electronic payment is made, beyond which the off-sales shop has to turn them away.

BBC: Shelves in a shop

"It could have walked out of here days ago with a perfectly adequate quota to meet the subsistence needs of indigenous communities in Greenland for the next six years, but it was prepared to lose everything for a handful of extra whales that, our recent surveys show, could well end up on the menu in tourist restaurants".

BBC: Call for UN debate rejected as whaling talks end

In January, the central government would set an annual quota for bank loans and the money went out of the door, says Jing Ulrich, chairman of global markets in China for JPMorgan.

FORBES: No Guarantees For China's Shadow Banks, Warns JPMorgan Economist

NATO, which has spent half a century preparing for war, how much more true of the European Union, whose culture of horse-trading (my fish quota for your opt-out on social policy) is poorly suited to the sober, decisive thinking needed to run a military campaign.

ECONOMIST: Defending the Union

An unbeaten fifth wicket stand of 51 between Rob Bailey (50 not out) and captain Dominic Cork (26 not out) saw Derbyshire past the visitors' 218 for six with one over of their quota of 50 to spare.

BBC: Lancs slump against Derbyshire

' US officials say the legally sanctioned coca leaf quota here already satisfies traditional uses and that more coca production will only mean more cocaine flowing out of Bolivia, but Morales says he's against cocaine and wants to talk with Washington about it.

NPR: Bolivian President Elect Makes Bold Claims on Coca