They grumbled about Beijing's rents and food prices, but they also knew they were doing all right - at least compared to people in their home towns.

BBC: Changing China seen from the 'hard seats' of a train

So far, ministers have stuck to the line that gas is a privately run business and that government interference is the last thing industry needs (although they have grumbled about the glacial pace of liberalisation in the European markets on which Britain will increasingly rely).

ECONOMIST: Winter worries mean gas prices have gone haywire

On his watch, which began in 1993, no foreign institution has bought a majority stake, although a few have grumbled that they would have but for Mr Fazio's opposition.

ECONOMIST: Italian banks and the EU

The affair could scupper the campaign to defang the FCPA. American firms have long grumbled that they are at a competitive disadvantage because other countries' anti-bribery laws are laxer.

ECONOMIST: Walmart

The organisation points to decimalisation in 1971, when the UK's currency was swiftly changed and "people grumbled for a few days and then they got used to it".

BBC: NEWS | UK | Magazine | Will we ever go completely metric?

Although some Tory commentators grumbled that Mr Letwin's plans lacked radicalism or any clear commitment to cutting taxes, they can't have been paying attention.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

Hedge funds have grumbled for years about paying high fees for hard-to-locate stocks only to find that they were never delivered, even after the trade was executed.

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