While Mr Matthews was able to draught-proof some areas himself, he says he would take a more methodical approach if he were planning any major changes to his home.

Herbert wove a complicated universe with oddball technologies, bizarre competing factions and religions that are easier to digest over the methodical consumption of hundreds of pages.

He took a similarly methodical approach to dismantling the notion that the United States should continue to be a beacon for immigrants.

But there is a sense they rely on such off-the-cuff improvisation, rather than the methodical working over and opening up of opponents.

The EPA’s rulemaking is necessarily methodical, said Wheeler, and the process can take years.