Even in tourism, where Italy has a natural advantage, it has fallen from first- to fifth-most popular destination over the past 30 years.
At the same time, issues like welfare reform and immigration have risen in salience, but the Tories' advantage on them has fallen.
It remains at the forefront of the technologies of the future, such as biotechnology and nanotechnology, and has the advantage in cyberspace, even though it has fallen behind in some other areas, like green technologies".
And since the dollar has fallen against other major currencies, China's artificial cost advantage has actually increased.
This week, though, the Obama administration announced that since the health care law was passed, "Medicare Advantage premiums have fallen by 10 percent, and enrollment has risen by 28 percent".
Coffee rose as some roasters took advantage of prices that had fallen to a six-month low to secure supplies.
But it had an advantage: Frédéric Emile d'Erlanger had fallen in love with Mathilde Slidell, a daughter of John Slidell, the Confederate envoy to the Court of Napoleon III.
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, says: "Some consumers looking to take advantage of the green deal have fallen foul of scammers.
Other reactor concepts that offer major theoretical advantages over light water reactors have fallen by the wayside, or remain stuck in the research stage.
But, for too long, a group of coasting schools, many in leafy areas with more advantages than schools in disadvantaged communities, have fallen beneath the radar.
