Republicans are outraged at what they regard as Mr Berger's vindictive, partisan and intellectually shallow attacks, pointing out the absurdity of labelling all Republicans as isolationists when opponents of the test-ban treaty included many of the most internationally-minded senators.

ECONOMIST: America??s new i-word

And though, being an economist, he could not help muttering about the imperfection of societies and systems and the absurdity of predictions and though, being an inveterate puncturer of himself, he would demand a paternity test if anyone called him the father of the deregulated world his adventures with airlines led on to the freeing of the trucking, telecoms and power industries, and heralded the Thatcherite and Reaganite revolutions.

ECONOMIST: Alfred Kahn, deregulator, died on December 27th, aged 93