Fighting climate change allows councils which are usually kept on a tight leash by an overweening central government a rare chance to look and sound statesmanlike.

ECONOMIST: Greenery from the bottom up

What's wrong with a little overweening ambition?

WSJ: A Sourpuss? Moi?

This is the drama of a flawed and self-destructive hero, a protagonist of great achievements and overweening presumption.

NEWYORKER: Unsinkable

Despite the technocrats' overweening presence, Estrada has vowed to become a hands-on leader.

CNN: Reinventing Estrada

As the title suggests, the themes of this work of fiction are the old ones: the vanity of human striving, divine punishment for overweening confidence in our technological achievement, the futility of human effort in a world ruled by indifferent nature.

NEWYORKER: Unsinkable

Packed with anecdote and detail, it is a thoughtful, strongly felt study of what he believes are France's ills: a melancholy list that includes social division, widespread corruption, falling school standards and an overweening state.

ECONOMIST: If in doubt, bash the French