vulture

Meanwhile the narrator’s financially devious husband appears as a vulture with “the brooding eye, the blood-tipped beak, the flabby folds of flesh” of a bird of prey.

Another home defeat by Brighton - it would be their fourth in a row at Old Trafford next weekend - would see the vultures circling again.

Bailout money is likely to be invested in “market-moving purchases that push up the value of assets and local currency,” and hedge funds and vulture capitalists “will see a windfall.”

Hooded vultures, like other vulture species across Africa and Asia, are critically endangered, with fewer than 150,000 left in the wild.

"Children with special educational needs deserve the best possible support, and should not be viewed as cash cows for vulture firms," she said.