There are protracted bits involving dental floss, slugs and bowel obstructions, and they're not illuminating or subversive -- they're sophomoric.
There are protracted round-table meetings, I'm told, and sometimes heated discussion when a book comes in with a title that won't do it any favours at all, or so the team feels.
Conversely, if EMU fails or if there are protracted delays in its attainment, if too many Member States remain permanently outside the monetary union, or if some states suffer serious economic and social disruption as a consequence of joining the monetary union, then such shortfalls will adversely affect the present level of political integration in the European Union.
(You wonder if Europe's leaders bother to read their own history. When there is protracted depression and desperate people, nasty things have been known to happen in this part of the world).
If there are protracted battles on contaminated terrain, even the current supplies could be exhausted, some government officials said.
Had we thought for a moment there would be protracted closure of wholesale markets, we'd have been forced to take action".
"This is especially pertinent in Ceredigion, where there has been protracted debate as to the future of Bronglais hospital and other cottage hospitals in the county.
He told MPs that the inquiry was "unprecedented in scope" and there had been protracted negotiations with the government over the release of classified documents, including correspondence between former PM Tony Blair and President George W. Bush.
As the shoulder girdle is protracted there is a delay in nerve movement, which is followed by a steady increase in nerve excursion.
But with several companies involved in the drilling rig that caused the spill, including the rig's owner, Transocean, there will most likely be protracted legal battles that will determine who actually owes whom for what.
