High pay for gruelling hours and weeks-long stints is something you might associate with work in a mine or on an oil rig. But, as we report this week, this kind of danger money is available in another field: caring for the children of the super-rich. The demands on these super-nannies can be extreme—and extremely petty.

Here’s a (not exactly bold) prediction: Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party will fare well in elections for the Duma, Russia’s parliament, this weekend. We explain why, even by the country’s low standards, this year’s vote is a farce.