Venerable operators like yours truly simultaneously are blessed and cursed by their historical memory of the life cycles for great growth companies.

FORBES: Is Apple Worth $400 Or $900?

Mr Obama is both cursed and blessed to have taken over in the middle of a blazing financial crisis.

ECONOMIST: Obama's record: A hundred days of hyperactivity | The

Alongside ceremonial mayors and various types of county or city council, Englishmen are already blessed (or cursed) with a profusion of centrally funded bodies such as Regional Development Agencies, Regional Assemblies, various Government Offices (of the North West and South East, for example) and more, almost all of them unelected.

ECONOMIST: City government