It is possible to imagine him having a small meal of minor critics for breakfast, as if they were kippers, and then polishing off a pile of verse novelists with his 11 a.m.
Democracy here is dying not with a single giant blow but with many small cuts, critics say, through the legal processes of Parliament that add up to a slow-motion coup.
Perhaps for as long as the federal government has reported which of its contracts have been awarded to small businesses, critics have charged that many of those contracts have actually gone to large companies — often very large companies.
Mr. Small's critics have also found fault with his private museum of feather art, which is housed near his home in an apartment where he holds monthly fund-raising dinners.
The houses are owned by the city and occupied, at a cost of $110 per bedroom, by City Council members and city workers, producing a small and, critics say, indentured electorate that has allowed the city to remain insulated from political challenge.
And even if the percentages used are small, say critics, with so many drillings taking place – in Pennsylvania alone, government estimates have predicted that 3,000-4,000 new gas wells will be drilled each year for the next 30 years – the total chemical count is dangerously high.
While corporations claim the contractor system gives drivers flexibility and strong incentives as "small businesses," critics say it's simply a way to shift the costs of employment onto workers and avoid payroll taxes and workers'-compensation costs.
Small-minded critics will offer petty objections, complaining that it is undemocratic or inequitable to have royalty.
The video iPod has also become more successful than small-screen critics thought it would; Apple sold 15 million video downloads, including programs like "Lost" and "The Office," in the six months after it was introduced.
There were a dozen displays, presumably unaware that they were in competition with one another, at least for their small audience of critics far, far away.
