And the parliament could help dispel its reputation for an easy life in the comfort zone by agreeing to sit into the summer to confirm a new commission before September.

ECONOMIST: President Prodi

If selected, his brusque style and reputation for incorruptibility would make life uncomfortable for the thousands of departmental officials who, according to the national audit agency last month, have skimmed off tens of millions of dollars for themselves in recent years.

ECONOMIST: An awkward transition

And this was coming from the institution somewhat sardonically called, by Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam, The World's Greatest University, a place that for centuries relied on its reputation for academic excellence, not its life-comforts and other amenities, to attract the best and the brightest.

FORBES: The Coddling Campus

Or will the billionaire be haunted by his reputation as a party boy for the rest of his life?

FORBES: Judge Rules Nicholas Will Not Face Drug Charges

Reputation management has now become a defining feature of online life for many internet users, especially the young.

FORBES: The Beauty of Never Forgetting

The 65-year-old from Brazil has had his reputation bolstered since taking over as prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in 2011.

BBC: Papal conclave: Runners and riders

And he addressed criticisms that the BBC had lost its reputation for authoritative coverage, drawing attention to Andrew Marr's documentary about the life of the Queen, and a programme in which Prince Charles paid tribute to his mother.

BBC: Mark Thompson: BBC has 'lessons to learn' from Jubilee

Throughout his life and to this day, Britten's reputation has risen and fallen for reasons that have at least as much to do with his complex personality.

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The young, brash Mr McInerney gained a notorious reputation in gossip pages and glossy magazines for his own hard-partying habits, his reported drug use and dramatic private life.

ECONOMIST: New fiction