Increasingly, ministers behave as if the Lords were a nuisance to be trampled on rather than a check to be respected.

ECONOMIST: Welfare reform

Mr Bush came from the respected ranks of Republican governors rather than the despised ranks of Washington insiders.

ECONOMIST: An elephant never forgives (they say)

The resurrection of the Shia clergy in Iraq, the traditional wellspring of Shia teaching, has lately reinforced this trend, with many of its respected scholars professing political quietism rather than Islamic revolution.

ECONOMIST: Hizbullah and Israel