At the AU meeting Mr Kenyatta railed against "imperialists", sounding more like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, who loves to cock a snook at the West, than a man whose election strategy was devised by a smooth British public-relations firm.
Occasionally there is the cheerful note of non-improvement, as in Clement Moore's "Visit from St. Nicholas" (1823), sounding against the successful lesson-cum-moral tales of Peter Parley (Goodrich) and the didactic "Rollo" series of Jacob Abbott.
Considering this perspective, and the success of "Where Are Ü Now", the march against EDM is sounding more stale than ever.
"I'd never even swum once before against Cameron," Peaty says, sounding amazed all over again.
Still, for anyone who wants him, he's still here, and – against every odd imaginable – sounding really great.
Many were also impressed by his government reshuffle in August that pushed out Arnaud Montebourg, an industry minister given to sounding off against foreign capitalists.
"Corporate Tax Posturing Should Stop," by John Gapper of the Financial Times, thoughtfully considered the hypocrisy of politicians' sounding off against companies' exploitation of global tax loopholes.
Here he is sounding off against the closure of the pits with a passion it's hard to imagine didn't come from the heart.
Each time the Man Booker prize is awarded the diary columns are full of rival jurors anonymously sounding off against one another.
I speak of Met police assistant commissioner Bob Quick sounding off against the "corrupt" (whoops no, he's withdrawn that) mobilisation of the media against the thin blue line by Conservative MPs and their minions in the Damian Green affair.
