We've all met petty people. Little people: not necessarily in body, but in mind. Their outlook is narrow, blinkered: to define their lives they have caged themselves in a framework of small rules and regulations, and they cannot conceive of any alternative. They go through life enveloped in a haze of "thou shalt not".

I sometimes wonder, though, what happens when petty people fall victim to another's pettiness. Do they go away raging inwardly, thinking "what a prick" like any reasonable person, or do they nod sagely to themselves, recognising a kindred spirit and thinking, "yes, that was reasonable and well considered"?