For President Obama, this is gut-check time on Iraq. He is moving the nation back onto a pitiless battlefield, with a war plan that is long on good intentions and short on clarity about the ultimate mission.

Writing of cyclic diagramming, he speaks of . . . the practical state of locomotives that pass through any number of engine and maintenance crews' hands in the course of a week's common user working, receiving love from none. The italics are mine.

Gastro-diplomacy [title] P W who …? Mr William Clark is reputed to have said when he was being quizzed for the job of American Assistant Secretary of State. Well, whatever political reminders he might now have, he will never forget our prime minister [P. W. Botha] after being given so memorable a dish as biltong souffle for breakfast yesterday, backed up by straight biltong and maroela jelly.

Sculpturing gels provide stiffer hold than styling gels, which provide better hold than mousses.