The latest effort by the bank's governor, Jean-Claude Trichet, to streamline the bloated institution has caused such a rumpus that even France's finance minister has intervened.

ECONOMIST: Discordant (bank)notes

Mr Lansley's plans might have caused less of a rumpus with more explicit warning.

ECONOMIST: Public-service reform

Leaked recordings of telephone chats between an intermediary and some of India's most powerful businesspeople have caused a headline-hogging rumpus.

ECONOMIST: A series of corruption scandals shake Indian businesses