In part, this reflected his personal circumstances: Mr Cheney's daughter has declared herself to be a lesbian.

ECONOMIST: Conservatives and liberty

Mercedes Bass, dressed in a champagne-colored lace gown by Oscar de la Renta, declared herself delighted by the turnout.

NEWYORKER: Man Behind the Curtain

As a woman who previously declared herself pro-corporate, in reality I am pro-process.

FORBES: Bridging Corporate and Startup Cultures

They did so willingly, for though the proofs would zing back and forth until at last she declared herself satisfied, her suggestions were almost invariably improvements.

ECONOMIST: Barbara Epstein, editor, died on June 16th, aged 77

Even Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican senator from Maine who recently declared herself so disgusted with the polarisation of Congress that she is not running for re-election this year, has been inching to the right since 2010.

ECONOMIST: The plot against a long-serving Republican

When war was declared, she shot herself in the head, but survived, and lived for several years with a degree of brain damage.

ECONOMIST: English lives