After a week of public vilification, the cheers were a welcome tonic for Mr. Purcell.

As welcome a tonic as they were on Wall Street, the rate cuts appeared to do little to persuade sellers not to sell today, or buyers to buy.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said the decline in unemployment was a "welcome tonic", but warned that there are still wide regional variations in the labour market picture.

Haffner's boyish enthusiasm was a welcome tonic.

Mr. Lindsey's very unobtrusiveness and measured serenity is a welcome tonic to the sometimes frenetic Mr. Clinton, friends say.

Today's unemployment figures are a welcome tonic to the raft of recent poor economic data.

After the intensity of New Haven and Washington, the friendliness, slower pace and beauty of Fayetteville were a welcome tonic.

For many of Casamance's people, however, particularly the European hoteliers who have settled here, the Government crackdown was a welcome tonic after the events of recent months.

For all of the new medical details, today's announcement was a welcome tonic for Mr. Yeltsin's political health.

A welcome tonic to the glut of perfectly produced vanity exercises that passes for modern blues these days.