In December, he refused to license a new grammar school in Kent while – with characteristic ambiguity – suggesting this refusal was merely a technicality.
It's pleasant to fantasise that if Mirvish hadn't died in 2007, the building would never have been sold for scrap – but Ed's defining characteristic wasn't so much honesty as a hard nose.
The US and the EU share one characteristic: they are, in the jargon of political science, "mixed regimes", with a strong separation of powers and numerous checks and balances.
The economy characteristic of those years informed everything about her – the way she dressed, her reserved speech, the pared-back working method, the attitude to equipment, the reluctance to talk about her work.
Here's the key characteristic of populism: populists contrast an image of a pure, homogeneous people with that of a corrupt or at least, uncaring elite that colludes with those who are not properly part of the national body politic.
A glossy brochure for Garden City in Nairobi, which includes 400-plus flats and townhouses, boasts: "From the aquamarine water of the heated swimming pool to the ultra-modern fitted kitchen, solid bamboo flooring and glass balcony balustrades, quality is the defining characteristic of the Garden City Village".
"We'd had six divisional directors in the space of four years," she explains, before adding, with characteristic directness, "some of them didn't move on for wholly positive reasons.
A third dominant characteristic, probably linked with his provincialism and his romanticism, made itself felt.
"Quick art, that's been the characteristic of the whole century from the cubists on.
His backbone was his defining characteristic, Harris said.
In an emotional address to 500 party delegates yesterday, the Nobel peace prize winner made a characteristic appeal to those unionists opposed to the Agreement to work with nationalists, telling them he understood their fears.
