The tone of the white paper has been softened following intervention by the prime minister's policy unit.

ECONOMIST: Transport

To help it avoid charges of suppressing the emergence of methods that may prove better than its favoured ones, the government should look to one particular principle, outlined in its education white paper of autumn 1997: that intervention in schools should be in inverse proportion to their success.

ECONOMIST: Journey up the learning curve

At least on paper, Britain's approach to humanitarian intervention is pretty ambitious to begin with.

ECONOMIST: Defence