His hand went to the fire and he pulled a burning stick from it.

VOA: special.2010.02.27

It is a fast-paced sport, requiring finely tuned eye-hand-stick-puck co-ordination, executed at high speed, by some of the fittest athletes in sport.

ECONOMIST: Letters

So my bet is that the main outcome of the current kerfuffle will be to hand a stick to Labour (and to a lesser extent the Lib Dems) to beat the Conservatives with, and make it much harder for them to legislate in a way Labour doesn't like.

BBC: Funding merry-go-round shows no sign of stopping

Most Finns have settled their bills via Internet banking for years, while Americans stick to hand-written cheques.

ECONOMIST: Letters