And, vitally, the topic provides an alternative to Iraq, which may well be stale by the next election.More than anything, however, Lib Dem morale is being sustained by the real possibility that the next election will result in a hung parliament.
He provides detailed plot synopses for each of Kurosawa's 30 features, and while this works reasonably well, refreshing stale memory, he does the same with Mifune, who acted in many, many more films than Kurosawa directed -- 126, not counting television.
This bread lasts well, once stale it is a fabulous dipper for fondue, thickener for good soup or make the best croutons possible.
This year, though, Gold was told by a team executive that the promotion might be getting, well, a little stale.
And his policies, combining conservative principles with reformist energy, could contrast well with their stale liberal orthodoxy.
Even the novelty of his early ornate and often cinematic photographic productions, they say, grew stale well before his self-imposed exile.
In an age of mandatory multi-culturalism and groupthink --where well-intentioned but stale pieties stand in for close scrutiny on the left, and shrill but defensive assertions parade as rigorous criticism on the right -- it is altogether beneficial to have a writer such as V.S. Naipaul in our midst.
Yesterday's polemics are usually stale as well, even when you're on the side of the argument - which means, I regret to say, that almost nothing in this book is still as fresh and crisp as it no doubt was when first published.
Conversely he noted that the Dark Blue crew "did not come on at all well and were somewhat stale by the day of the race".
