"Osborne has been hugely more flexible than is often realised.
Which is why Apple's Macs, with locked down hardware, have always been a better experience than the hugely hardware-flexible Windows operating system.
Microsoft grew and prospered on the simple, dogged conviction that the future belonged to the desktop, with open competition in the hardware beneath, open competition in the software above and a relatively thin, highly flexible and hugely lucrative layer of Microsoft monopoly in the middle.
Something interesting has happened at Microsoft over the last year: it's realised that it owns a hugely popular, well-known and flexible piece of intellectual property.
Maternity leave and flexible employment practices are hugely important to companies, as they help retain key staff and maintain diversity in the workplace.
She started her own company, Element Interiors, after finding that there was a hugely under-serviced market of young professionals who desired affordable, flexible design help.
It cannot harm Mr de Villepin that France's health scares have been grabbing headlines at a time when he is trying to push through parliament a more flexible but hugely unpopular new employment contract for those under 26.
