What motivated him, we were to understand, was his zeal for “fundamental fairness” —protecting the taxpayer, controlling spending and ensuring that only the most deserving claimants received their benefits.
And that same zeal for action can be seen in Saudi foreign policy, with a much more muscular posture towards its arch rival Iran, in places like Yemen and Lebanon.
In the northern city of Cangzhou some officials showed unusual zeal by vowing to give up smoking in order to “do their personal best to combat air pollution”.
Ralph would not concede that the work of the detectives was likely to be in vain, for he thought that the prize offered would greatly stimulate their zeal and activity.
But, in the course of battle, each side lost some of the greatest heroes of their time — their zeal turning into heartbreak, even as their stories hardened into legend.
The zeal that is driving this trend is as much a pushback against the forces of a consumerist culture as it is about saving money, with scorn for corporate manipulation mixed in with tips for changing personal habits.
Weir wanted Carrey, with his rubber-faced comedic zeal, and he was willing to wait a year for the actor, then busy with The Cable Guy and Liar Liar, to become available.
Even then, the concept of amateurism, for which there were no rules in ancient times, and the zeal for the competitive spirit were often sacrificed for the more selfish materialistic considerations.