Inkscape has a feature (I used it in the past) which allows you to select some nodes and drag one and the other selected nodes move at different rates depending on the proximity to the dragged node. What is this called and how do I do it? I remember it was big news at the time and there were comparisons with a similar Xara feature.

Found it!
http://screencasters.heathenx.org/episode-060/

Select the node, hold alt, then move it.

It's called node sculpting, you can see a screenshot also on inkscape.org http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gal ... lpting.png