Sami was gasping for life.

Today, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is gasping for political air under the smothering control of Hamas.

And all Chinese are gasping in the same polluted air. But at least the Han Chinese can feel pride in the revival of their national fortunes.

It took a 110 billion rescue package to curtail capital outflows and restore market confidence in the eurozone, and even the bigger member states were left gasping for credit.

Addicted to an open ended strain of über monetary accommodation that was established in the depths of the Great Crisis of 2008 2009, financial markets are now gasping for breath.

Another time, when our path took us by a tranquil stream, I saw a man sitting and watching his line, seemingly at peace with the world, while next to him, fish he had already caught were flapping helplessly and gasping in the air.

For a time, we shared the stage with our distant cousins, Neanderthal, who clearly had some spark of awareness, but whether it was the increase in the size of the brain, or the development of language, or some other evolutionary catalyst we quickly left Neanderthal gasping for survival.