Downtrodden franchises like to toss around pithy slogans like "five-year plan" and "long-term vision" to mask their wretchedness.

WSJ: The Mets' Crawl Through the Desert Continues

Yet in many ways, the government is more constrained than the daunting parliamentary arithmetic and the wretchedness of the Tories imply.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

Many of them display their unlovely genitalia to the camera, for no reason except, presumably, to emphasise their disgusting wretchedness and degradation.

ECONOMIST: A shocking Russian photographer

That might tempt more Indians to leave the wretchedness of the reserves.

ECONOMIST: Canada

The wretchedness of its foreshortened life was left to the imagination.

ECONOMIST: The right to eat cats and dogs is under threat

In sum, the wretchedness of Palestinian life, say the Israelis around Mr Sharon, is wholly due to the violence which they continue to direct against Israel and Israelis.

ECONOMIST: Palestine

Although less palatial than, say, the British ambassador's residence, many might find it opulent for the head of an outfit that aims to help the billion-odd who live in rural wretchedness.

ECONOMIST: Hard questions for a poverty-buster

Like Clement Attlee, he worked after university at Toynbee Hall, a university foundation in London's East End, where he was able to see the wretchedness of the poor at first hand and to be shocked by it.

ECONOMIST: In Sir William��s shadow