Word: beset
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Siege Mentality. To foreigners who have never known the Northern Irish or seen the drab, mean slums of their cities, it seems all but incomprehensible that a corner of Great Britain, that most gentle and civilized of lands, should be beset in this day and age by a holy war. Ulstermen themselves have often argued that the real issue is not religion but a complex combination of economics (an entrenched Protestant majority preserving its job preferences over a poorer Catholic minority) and political allegiance (to the British Crown or to a reunited Ireland). But as Irish Scholar Conor Cruise...
Lions may be a vanishing species in some African countries, but just 30 miles west of Paris Viscount Paul de La Panouse finds himself beset by too many of the beasts. La Panouse, 27, whose family coat of arms portrays-naturally-a lion, founded a wild-game park three years ago. On the spacious grounds around his family's Renaissance Château de Thoiry, he started out with a score of lions. Obviously French food and the sweeping savannas of the Ile-de-France region agreed with the animals. They proliferated so rapidly that the desperate viscount...
Fighting Imports. Compared with the down-at-the-heels state of the U.S. shoe industry, which is beset by cut-rate foreign rivals, Suave's performance is all the more remarkable. The firm concentrates on producing low-priced leisure footwear like sneakers and slippers for such chain stores as Woolworth's and K mart to sell under private labels. Prices of Suave products, most made of vinyl, range between $1.60 and $6 and are easily competitive with imports. The firm manages this by using only the most modern and efficient equipment and paying its nearly 2,000 workers...
That leaves two major issues still unsolved. One is the role of British sterling. Among other things, the French fear that the Common Market would inherit the responsibility for sterling which, as a reserve currency, is subject to the stresses of the sort that have recently beset the dollar. As a result, the French want London to discourage foreign countries from holding sterling balances. The other issue is New Zealand, whose entire economy depends on exports of lamb, butter and other agricultural products to Britain. Last month New Zealand's Premier Sir Keith Holyoake presented his country...
West Germans beset by inflation have found a novel remedy. At the rate of about 4,800 a week, they are going down to their courthouses to renounce Christianity. They need only endure some red tape, pay a modest fee and in effect excommunicate themselves to escape a surcharge of up to 10% on the income taxes of church members...