"He's right to say there is an awful lot of bureaucracy and red tape and quangocracy... that part of what he says is absolutely right, " Mr Cameron said.

BBC: David Cameron has 'good relations' with civil servants

"Being a teenager is awful, " he says.

BBC: Rock cult or nice kids that do their homework?

Obviously, Afghanistan is something that he has spent an awful lot of time on as of late.

WHITEHOUSE: 10/14/09: White House Press Briefing

After all, if the oil companies are really as powerful and as awful as he implies, what reason is there to believe that things can change?

ECONOMIST: Oil and the environment

"This is to forget an awful lot, " he said, explaining Lib Dem backing for reform through much of the process.

BBC: 'All of us love the NHS'

Despite their 15-6 defeat to South Africa in the final, Wilkinson made it clear he is very proud of what England achieved after they recovered from an awful start in the tournament.

BBC: Wilkinson was hampered by injury

But although Sir Paul has carried the can, an awful lot of its contents is still being spilt as he leaves New Scotland Yard.

BBC: Analysis: Met police resignations

He inhabits a vast, restless, awful, and awesome isolation, which is both his folly and his tragedy.

NEWYORKER: Lives in Limbo

The difficulty is the he inevitably has felt the need to range wide, and therefore slightly shallow, on an awful lot of issues.

BBC: Charles Kennedy

Whether that's what the 24-year-old star was aiming for is hard to say, but he sleepwalks through this tearjerker with a blank look and delivers his (admittedly awful) lines with numb detachment.

CNN: Review: 'The Lucky One' is an unconvincing romance