Welfare reform isn't easy.

Ingenious prisoners have successfully claimed a range of novel entitlements, from fertility treatment to a right to keep twigs in their cells to wave as wands in pagan rituals.

You can't help your background or innate talents. But anyone can graft: that's why there are success stories like that of Tony Pidgley, the founder and owner of Berkeley Homes.

Much of the work legal executives do has to be supervised by a solicitor, irrespective of the experience or ability of the individual. In practice, this is a major disincentive to legal executives setting up their own high street practices. Even when they can do the work, they are still tied to solicitors.

Iraq lacks leaders capable of soothing sectarian wounds, and Western attempts to pick them or force their hand invite anti-imperialist backlash.