The problem is that a negotiate-then-validate strategy is just a prettified form of blackmail.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

It re-opened in its new guise in 1991, amid complaints from those who do not like their history prettified.

ECONOMIST: Pukkah hotels | The

Old colonial relics such as Raffles Hotel or schools such as St Joseph's Institution (now the Art Museum) were restored and prettified.

ECONOMIST: Asian nation-building

The price was that for decades, as Microsoft took command of the world of business and workplace computing that was the foundation of the PC industry, most people saw Apple as a maker of overpriced, prettified luxury goods that lacked some of the core functionality of PCs and PC-based devices.

FORBES: Steve Jobs' One Big Idea