I still possess somewhere a paper napkin bearing the seal of the vice-president of the United States, purloined from Air Force Two while writing a profile of Dan Quayle for the Economist. (Mem-entos do not come much more momentous than that.) Filching the napkin was no doubt a minor misdemeanour even then. Today, however, it might be treated more seriously.

There are persistent rumours - unconfirmed, of course - that [...]

In capitalist countries people gain power because they are rich; in socialist countries people get rich because they are powerful. That is almost the defining difference between the two systems. The more a nation allows people to buy their way into influence, the more capitalist it is; the more it allows those with political influence to reward themselves with privileges, the more socialist it is - at least socialist as [...]