We put ourselves on the wrong side of the British sense of fair play, and no political party can stay there for long without dire consequences.
Few people in Washington thought the debate would drag on this long, through dire warnings from the White House about potential harm to national security, through retreats and pushbacks by the Democrats, and now through a game of chicken over how to resolve the impasse.
But for landlords and developers, the situation has long been dire, and especially since the 2008 "Lehman shock". Another survey for November, by Sanko Estate found that the rental price decline had reached 48percentt in Shinjuku-ku from a peak in January 2008, to JPY 16,356 per 3.3 square meters (one tsubo), and 45percentt in Shibuya.
The UK's own Sultan of Swing will never match Dylan's Ruthian, Sultan of Swat legend here in America, but it was Knopfler who proved to be as relevant as ever, long after Dire Straits disappeared from the vernacular as quickly as "I Want My MTV" did on cable TV.
Mr. Gensler has long warned of dire consequences for markets and consumers if his agency does not receive more money.
Facebook's search offering has long been so dire that any improvement to it is a welcome relief.
In the long run, despite dire warnings of humanitarian and economic costs, it appears Pakistan did not suffer too greatly from that inundation.
Meanwhile, the former chancellor Alistair Darling will issue the latest in a long line of dire warnings from the campaign to stay in the EU.
Mars, for example, has long connected the dire conditions in cocoa communities in West Africa with collapsing cocoa yields and looming global shortages.
We must not forget that ill-judged cuts have long term and dire consequences for families on low incomes, who are already turning up on council doorsteps in their thousands desperate for help.
