Leaders of enemy countries are often described by our own political leaders and by the media as "mad". But some of the features that we associate with madness can be useful assets in a political leader. Self-absorption, obsession, addiction to risk-taking and frenzied creativity all apply to some leaders agreed to have been "great", as well as to those described as "mad". People without some of those characteristics would be unlikely either to seek power or to be successful. The label "mad" is cynically used as a way of dehumanising and discrediting leaders of countries with whom we are in dispute.