Thus, even on their family excursions and evening promenades, Iraqis inhabit the defiant, militant and self-aggrandising world of their president.

ECONOMIST: Monumental

The European Parliament, self-aggrandising and mediocre, cannot fill the democratic deficit.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne: The end of Monnet | The

After John returns in the evening bubbling with self-aggrandising chatter, he quickly falls prey to a ferocious case of sleep apnoea that exacerbates Charlotte's own case of jet lag and eventually leads to a series of accidental, then not so accidental, encounters with Bob in the bar.

ECONOMIST: Romance to die for