Pakistan recently announced that it was reviving an old system of ration cards for cheap wheat.

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Perhaps the traditional system of seniority should ration all wages and salaries?

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As the system gathered momentum, the ordinary ration came to encompass meat, cheese, butter, margarine, bacon and ham, tea, preserves, sugar and cooking fats such as lard.

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But if each peasant has to scan her irises every time she picks up her ration, it will be harder to scam the system.

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Ms Sheeran said Egypt had just widened its food rationing system after two decades and Pakistan had reintroduced ration cards after many years.

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