In representation, vitality and plain old charm, few can match Chinese depictions of animals in pottery and porcelain over the centuries.
Her high profile and plain speaking charm contrasts starkly with the grey-suited anonymity of her supposedly profit-fixated competitors - Serco, G4s, and Ingeus Deloitte.
She has a plain, unaffected charm evident even to an Eleanor Roosevelt loyalist disappointed to learn of yet another "other woman" in the Roosevelt marriage.
But there's a point about midway through the album, following the folk-rock football anthem "We Can Win", that Stewart's plain-speaking charm slips into queasy patriotism with "Another Country" and "Way Back Home".
But the regal "Tannhäuser" overture, cinematic "Götterdämmerung" passages and fervid "Tristan" prelude make you long for documents of Klemperer steering complete Wagner operas at his prime, and no "Siegfried Idyll" has more plain-spoken charm.
Gramps still had the remnant of a folksy, plain-spoken charm, but the dominant note in his personality was a bitter contempt for humanity in general and me specifically.
And another one, about Otto Klemperer's recordings of instrumental passages from Wagner, should have read, "But the regal 'Tannhäuser' overture, cinematic 'Götterdämmerung' passages and fervid 'Tristan' prelude make you long for documents of Klemperer steering complete Wagner operas at his prime, and no 'Siegfried Idyll' has more plain-spoken charm".
And though to the theatergoer's naked eye they are just plain folks, they will charm and terrorize Anonymous as completely as Circe and the Cyclops charmed and terrorized Odysseus.
And with his plain speaking and gruff charm, there is something about the way Mr Blunkett apologises that is peculiarly deflating of his critics.
If you want the Mediterranean, Barcelona might make your pick — a city that is fast becoming one of the Continent's most desirable cities. Istanbul, for just plain romance, Salzburg for charm and music, Singapore for pleasant practicality, and San Francisco for its setting and ambiance would have made my list.
