Of course, were Italy to reform its electoral laws and its constitution, as Mr Prodi and many others would like, people like Mr Bertinotti would be shorn of most of their power.

ECONOMIST: The Berlusconi problem

It would, though, be a mistake to imagine that this was a day shorn of political significance.

BBC: Party leaders are all Thatcher's children

Should the Florida court be put in its place--overridden and thus shorn of its emperor's new clothes--we will have at last begun to rectify the constitutional imbalance created by the imperial judiciary.

CNN: Our Imperial Judiciary

David Cameron will back redrawing boundaries when the matter is put to the vote, probably next year, but shorn of Lib Dem support the measure is unlikely to be passed.

BBC: Tories to select candidates in existing constituencies

Shorn of such spicy intrigues, in fact, there would be little new in Pakistan's latest contribution to the war on terror.

ECONOMIST: Pakistan: School for terror | The

Shorn of a mobile network with limited potential, China Unicom will be able to devote its resources to developing a network based on the far more popular GSM standard.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Normally the Black Stars would be amongst the favourites for any Nations Cup - but this was a side shorn of most of its top players, using youngsters whose chief experience was winning the Under-20 World Cup a few months before.

BBC: Angola 2010: Tragedy and triumph