Having knocked the government of Lionel Jospin for failing to cut taxes enough while he was outside it, Mr Fabius has yet to prove he is politically nimble enough to persuade France's unwieldy left-wing coalition to swallow such reforms.

ECONOMIST: The euro��s agony, Europe��s opportunity

But the patronage wing of the LDP could not swallow such fundamental change in Japan.

FORBES: More Turmoil In Japan

The right-wing Likud, having tried to swallow what was originally a leftist idea (though Mr Sharon, unlike the left, may have intended the Gaza pullout to be Israel's final withdrawal from occupied territory) was near fission.

ECONOMIST: Old Labour? | The