The odd thing, though, is that the Socialist leader's discomfiture may not much help Mr Aznar.

ECONOMIST: Spain: Dirt all round | The

One minister, Home Secretary Theresa May, will probably be looking at the SFO's discomfiture with mixed emotions.

BBC: SFO: Can it survive Tchenguiz humiliation?

Yet nobody has seized the opportunity afforded by Mr Trichet's discomfiture to put forward a strong candidate of their own.

ECONOMIST: Trouble at the top | The

To the obvious discomfiture of the IMF and its counterparts, Gorbachev is moving in just the opposite direction and doing so at flank speed.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | ��Don��t Bother Us With The Facts��: Allies Preempt IMF-Led Study On Soviet Economy

That said, other banks cannot revel in UBS's discomfiture, given that most of them have been tainted by the scandal of their mis-selling and misbehaviour in the boom years.

BBC: UBS: How big will the Libor bill be?

But the bill's preliminary passage, and the prime minister's discomfiture, may mean that the widespread distrust of Mr Netanyahu inside his own coalition is generating a logic of its own.

ECONOMIST: Israel: Beginning of the end? | The

To the discomfiture of Foreign Office diplomats (but not to Robin Cook, the foreign secretary, who is fervently pro-devolution), the Scottish parliament's ministers will be able to sit with British ministers at negotiating meetings in Brussels where Scottish interests are affected.

ECONOMIST: Launching devolution