Without lucidity born of despair, Monti would never have come to power in Italy.

I think this is a very important point and one that should be studied with the tranquillity and lucidity that the situation requires.

I would give an injection of steroids to try to give them some period of lucidity and coordination where they could then work their way further down the mountain.

Mr. AYEWAH (Nigeria) The Nigerian delegation would like to join other delegations that have congratulated the Secretary General on the lucidity and painstaking manner in which he has drawn up and presented his report.

The ones that weren't that lucid or were not that well coordinated, I would give an injection of steroids to try to give them some period of lucidity and coordination where they could then work their way further down the mountain.

One cannot say with certainty that if Rabin had lived, peace between Israelis and Palestinians would have become a reality. But, as the region increasingly becomes trapped in a race to the abyss, the rare combination of courage, modesty, and lucidity that he embodied is badly needed.

But the core of the argument comes in the first 400 pages, which is not an insurmountable challenge for the intellectually curious particularly given that Parfit, in the best tradition of English language philosophy, always strives for lucidity, never using obscure words where simple ones will do.