For a time, Hanwell Snr made his own reluctance to sit appear quite natural, busying himself with the hot oil and dismissing certain chips as not fit to be thrown in the fryer if his only son was to eat them.

NEWYORKER: Hanwell Senior

Mr Gore's failure to win his home state of Tennessee in the tightly fought battle for the US presidency in 2000 against George W Bush reflected a reluctance to spend time courting his own people.

BBC: Miliband joins list of political 'nearly men'

His reluctance may stem from the knowledge that his own party is also complicit.

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

His reluctance faded amid Oracle's faltering in-house efforts and his own view that the software industry was slowing down and might never reaccelerate.

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