Word: backgrounder
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...policeman-Tsang rose through the ranks of the colonial civil service, a common career choice for Hong Kongers with plenty of brains but little money. A devout Catholic (like a surprising number of key people in Hong Kong), Tsang has his roots deep in the city. Because of his background as an official in the British administration, for which he received a knighthood, Hong Kong's leftist camp has never fully trusted Tsang as a Beijing loyalist. Indeed, the conventional wisdom is that China's leaders are still feeling him out. But among his own people, that doesn't necessarily...
...TIME: Given your British background, does Beijing trust you? TSANG: I am the Chief Executive. I am the person appointed by the central government. I am the only constitutional link between the central government and the people of Hong Kong. I trust [Beijing] for being selfless in running Hong Kong. And I do not think that feeling is one-directional...
...life story suggests otherwise. The leader of the centrist Union for French Democracy (UDF) and for many years a minor presence in the rarefied world of French politics, Bayrou has emerged as a serious contender for the country's presidency. He has done so in spite of his homespun background. A smallholder's son from the Pyrenees, saddled with a stutter as a kid, he never rounded off his résumé at one of France's prestigious grandes écoles as many politicians do. Yet it's exactly Bayrou's ordinariness, his lack of privilege, that is attracting...
...basic physics. It is also very possible that a dropout would want to move on to bigger and better things as he or she ages. The same 16-year-old may someday want to turn a job in construction into a career in architecture, and yet lack the necessary background. By no means, however, should students feel like they are mired in a substandard high school. It is our responsibility to the students who stay on to deliver the best possible experience. Public education always has room for improvement, and there should be vocational school alternatives readily available for those...
...Gates' appointment seems to have freed up these kinds of logjams. Without Rumsfeld's baggage or background, Gates - whom some in the Pentagon are calling the "anti-Rumsfeld" - is free to disagree with policies and personnel that he inherited. "Gates seems to want to hold people accountable," says Lawrence Korb, Pentagon manpower chief during the Reagan administration. "Rumsfeld threatened a lot of people, but as far as we know never got rid of anybody for any mistakes...