"What [he] is trying to do isn't just opt out of social Europe, he wants to undercut it".
The speech was undercut with measures of pure toughness, such as plans to ban school-leavers from claiming the dole.
Amazon, you may recall, had been criticised for taking advantage of Luxembourg's 3% VAT rate to undercut competition (UK-based retailers had to add 20% VAT to ebooks).
The US vice-president, Joseph Biden, said the letter, drafted by Tom Cotton, a freshman senator from Arkansas, was "expressly designed to undercut a sitting president in the midst of sensitive international negotiations".
Cameron wants to make it easier for bad employers to undercut good ones, drive down wages, and make people who already work some of the longest hours in Europe work even longer.
In the past he has tried to make a deal and been undercut by his caucus, refusing to do anything.
What we said: "Lanza's voice makes her sound sweet, but her lyrics undercut that – 'I don't give a fuck what you do,' she warns on the title track.
He also took a risky step to try to undercut rebels' demands, by holding out the prospect of a referendum on the future shape of the Ukrainian state.
Obama warned against torpedoing this trade agreement, saying that protectionism would undercut economies worldwide: "The lesson is not that we pull up the drawbridge and build a moat around ourselves".
Which is what makes the Primark protests, or the Tesco shelfie campaign, or the UK Uncut rallies so splendidly aggravating – because they undercut the multimillion-pound marketing with point of sale information about poverty pay for shop staff or high-street tax dodging.
His first composition as an American citizen, the Academy expertly controlled the piece from the hesitant, broken-up start to the final flourish, undercut with feelings of tension and uncertainty.
