When the coalition came to power, a few targets remained within the policing pledge - promises to treat people with dignity and respect, to be efficient in answering calls, to spend more time on the beat - but even these have now been ditched.

BBC: What do we value about the police?

Washington interns do much of the phone-answering and mail-processing chores that await first-time jobholders in offices across the land.

WSJ: Dwight Lee: A Higher Minimum Wage��but Not for Interns in Congress

Perhaps the more important question, which like all questions most worth answering is at its heart a philosophical one, is at what point in time Blackstone (or Apollo or KKR) ceases to be a private equity firm at its heart, and becomes some other form financial or investment enterprise.

FORBES: Private Equity Turns its Eyes towards Underwriting Fees

From thousands answering Peace Corps appeals to help boost food production in Africa, to millions volunteering time, corporations adopting schools, and communities pulling together to help the neediest among us at home, we have refound our values.

CNN: State of the Union Address

Earlier today, a study in Science Translational Medicine proposed that DNA sequencing could become a standard first-choice test for infants in neonatal intensive care units, because a combination of new software and hardware could allow doctors to get results in just 50 hours, answering questions about what is making a baby sick far faster when time is of the essence.

FORBES: DNA Sequencing: Is Science Fiction Becoming Medical Fact?