Testing the waters is a veil for what candidates do in the years when it's too unseemly to be seen actually running for president. . . . But this veil is dropped when candidate and handlers believe the coyness has begun to cloy. And then the candidate's dance of the seven veils has begun.

It looks like rain, but let's go out anyway. At worst, we'll only get wet.

Emphasis falls on the correction of error and participation in mutual psychagogy. This emphasis on reciprocal correction in friendship is congruent with the ideal of friendship of many and runs counter to the common saying that one should judge a person's character before friendship is proffered.

Assistant: You'll meet with the managing director and Dr Sinita Brahmachari, the engineer who designed the chair. Peter Mackenzie: Indian, is he? Assistant: She is a British citizen, Minister. Born in Coventry.