Every week or so I undertake a rigorous mental challenge: matching my socks. The toughest ones are the black ones, because they're not all alike. Some fade bluish, others don't. Some have dimples, others ribbing. Elastics stretch and break differently, and I am regularly bamboozled ...

Paul Wolfowitz may have to choose between Shaha Ali Riza's affections and his sense of duty. She is a gender specialist employed by the World Bank as an acting manager for external relations and outreach, he has been nominated as the Bank's new President, the world's biggest boondoggle is full of quasijobs like hers, and he must ...