She has promised swifter convictions in rape cases and says she will tour the state in August to reassure women they are safe under her rule.

BBC: Sarika (centre) with her parents

On the other hand, his critics could counter that swifter progress in redirecting public spending away from a voracious bureaucracy and towards the needy might ensure that the jobless are still alive to enjoy the fruits of stability when they eventually mature.

ECONOMIST: Brazil

No other American television news programme, cable or broadcast, did better (though the BBC and Al-Jazeera were both swifter and more plugged-in).

ECONOMIST: But the real winner was an unusual hybrid of old and new media

Banks and building societies have been making swifter-than-predicted progress in repaying the emergency lending they had to take from the Bank of England and the Treasury in 2008 during the height of the banking crisis.

BBC: House sales have fallen so why are prices still high?

They were immediately drawn to the cheaper price tag and swifter timeline (the agency they worked with in Mumbai set them up with both an egg donor and a surrogate in just six weeks).

FORBES: The Road to Indian Surrogacy

"What this means is that the legacy impact of the recession will be more drawn out here than in other countries where there was swifter action, " said Graeme Harrison, the lead consultant from Oxford Economics.

BBC: Jobless

The more the economy weakens, the swifter the Bank of England is likely to be in lowering the base rate from its present level of 5.0%.

ECONOMIST: Weak sterling

But with internal squabbles engulfing both the left and right, and palpable disappointment in the private sector which hoped for swifter change, there is a risk that Germany's masters will deliver the worst of both worlds, not the best.

ECONOMIST: Business and politics in Germany

In the case of Sprint Nextel , maybe even a little swifter.

FORBES: Magazine Article