Yet the details of the government's reforms betray its determination not to reduce the power of the executive.

ECONOMIST: British constitution

Jim Murphy, a Scottish Labour MP and the shadow defence secretary, wants the central party to devolve more power to the Scottish party, just as executive power was transferred when Tony Blair's government set up the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

ECONOMIST: Scottish politics

UES, which runs Russia's national power grid, the government installed a 29-year-old chief executive and told him to shake the firm up.

ECONOMIST: On the hot line