Staff at North Bristol NHS Trust said the problem had led to some patients missing their operations and the wrong patients being booked for operations.

BBC: Patient booking problem at Bristol hospitals 'fixed soon'

And though some EU countries are willing to shoulder burdens (Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Poland are among the toughies), most have the wrong weapons for global operations.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

In Agency operations, things go wrong and you have to have backup plans.

FORBES: What Do Former CIA Spies Do When They Quit the Spy Game?

When things do go wrong, the split between train and infrastructure operations will diffuse responsibility.

ECONOMIST: The London Underground

Given the enormous obligations of many Ivy League endowments to fund general university operations, their portfolios were positioned on the wrong point of the efficient frontier.

FORBES: How The Harvard And Yale Endowment Models Changed To Avoid A Repeat Of 2009

Matthew Riches, in charge of county gritting operations, said the forecasters may have got it wrong but this was a welcome relief for them.

BBC: Orwell Bridge, Ipswich

The fact is, these kinds of trading operations can create enormous and costly risks, endangering the entire bank if things go wrong.

WHITEHOUSE: The ��Volcker Rule�� for Financial Institutions

And, after comments by the current head of the Army, General Sir Peter Wall, that the 2015 "deadline" for ending UK combat operations could be varied by conditions on the ground, Lord Dannatt said it was "cheap and wrong to say the military are just looking for a military solution".

BBC: Dannatt: US Afghan plan is 'bold, but risky'

Four botched operations took place at Addenbrooke's in just six weeks last year, including surgeons operating on the wrong body part of a patient.

BBC: Addenbrooke's Hospital