Humour goes a very long way to sweetening what could have been a giant pill of social history in Pride, but it's kept in check by the spectres of poverty, homophobia, Aids and, of course, the miners' defeat.
Even quaint desktops are promised a boost by companies replacing old models before Microsoft ends user support for its Windows XP operating system in April.To watch: Sweetening the pill?
There was no shortage of candidates for the jobs.Governments in Europe have also tried to encourage their citizens to save for themselves by sweetening new individual savings schemes with tax breaks.
As one defeated councillor from Bradford remarked: "For a party which prides itself on spin, we lost the plot .The chancellor thought he had found a way of sweetening the low-inflation pill by lacing his budget with give-aways.
Aware of the risk, Mr Darling is sweetening the tax pill.
Meanwhile, Paul Wolfowitz (left), president of the World Bank, is still enduring a pummelling for his role in sweetening his girlfriend's exit from the bank, shortly after his arrival almost two years ago.
Backed by Patrick Drahi, a tech entrepreneur, Numericable was the preferred bidder, but that did not stop Bouygues, a blue-chip company which had the backing of the government and the unions, from sweetening its offer three times during the takeover talks.
Led by Jacques Chirac, the French president, they are blocking Mr Mandelson from sweetening his offer, claiming that he has already gone too far.
The agency is also sweetening the deal by requiring manufacturers to seek only a single PMA for an entire range of AEDs intended for lay users (and another PMA for professional devices).
Drilling could begin on the bureau's lands as early as 2005, a year before Ms Flora's moratorium comes up for review.For greens, the problem is less the wells themselves than the things that come with them: roads, equipment plants, "sweetening plants" (used to remove unwanted "sour gas"), and so on.
Unless Mr Henderson finds a way of greatly sweetening the offer before its expiry on May 26th, most bondholders are likely to conclude they have little to lose by trying their luck in court.
