On all those fronts, as on the economic one, things have looked a little ropey lately.

ECONOMIST: TURKEY'S FUTURE

How ropey and expensive should the national ballet be allowed to become for the sake of employing British dancers?

ECONOMIST: Immigration clampdown

In the event, some of the organisation was ropey, but there were no overwhelming logistical problems, no riots, no crowd crushes, no hooliganism and no witch doctors cursing opponents all problems that had marred previous tournaments.

ECONOMIST: African football gets a welcome boost

Road and rail links to Dakar, in Senegal, to the west, are too ropey, so Mali's truckers face a grinding round trip of 2, 000km (1, 200 miles) or more through Benin or Togo to get any goods to the world market.

ECONOMIST: Deserving cases, getting too little help | The