[Guido]
Can I recommend going slow here? This is a very interesting topic where many languages have gone before. I liked Daniel F Moisset's analysis about the choices of a language designer and his conclusion that match should be a statement.
Just to be annoying ;-) , I liked the way he _reached_ that conclusion: by looking at real-life Python code that may have been written instead to use constructs "like this". I find such examination far more persuasive than abstract arguments or made-up examples. An observation: syntax borrowed from functional languages often fails to work well in practice when grafted onto a language that's statement-oriented - it only works well for the expression subset of the language. and even then just for when that subset is being used in a functional way (e.g., the expression `object.method(arg)` is usually used for its side effects, not for its typically-None return value). OTOH, syntax borrowed from a statement-oriented language usually fails to work at all when grafted onto an "almost everything's an expression" language. So that's an abstract argument of my own, but - according to me - should be given almost no weight unless confirmed by examining realistic code. Daniel did some of both - great!
... A larger topic may be how to reach decisions. If I've learned one thing from PEP 572 it's that we need to adjust how we discuss and evaluate proposals. I'll think about this and start a discussion at the Language Summit about this.
Python needs something akin to a dictator, who tells people how things are going to be, like it or not. But a benevolent dictator, not an evil one. And to prevent palace intrigue, they should hold that position for life. Just thinking outside the box there ;-)