But an intelligence coup is useless if it aggravates relations between supposedly friendly states, which is what the Vanunu affair shows every sign of doing.
During freezing weather, Mr. Roman said, ice can build up at the end of the line and block it, thereby making the sump pump useless and allowing water to accumulate in the area supposedly being emptied.
Some undertakings were ill-considered: the Baltic–White Sea Canal, supposedly completed in 1933, employed some 200,000 300,000 forced labourers but proved almost useless.
I know I do when I look at my file drawers knowing how many useless papers are residing there, and yet, instead of starting to sort, I find something supposedly more important to do.
With the references to our supposedly anti-social behaviour and short attention spans, the tired old subtext is clear: technology has turned young people into useless, self-centred idiots.
But even in supposedly well-run health systems, they can be useless or deadly.
