"Women also must take this opportunity to bring men along with us," scolded Kami Rieck at the New York Times, in a column castigating women who are feeling demoralized about dating men.

He castigated anyone who suggested the blueprint, which polls showed was deeply unpopular among voters, represented his aims for the presidency.

Bush’s team was castigated for injecting race into the emotionally charged issue of crime.

In recent months, Chinese public figures and companies have also been castigated for being insufficiently patriotic.

The same prime minister, characterised as being too cautious by one US president, was then castigated as being too aggressive by his successor.