Word: blaire
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Modern is British Prime Minister Tony Blair's favorite word. Blair is forever telling us he wants a modern country with a modern democracy. Unfortunately, he finds himself in charge of a very old-fashioned nation. So he has set himself the visionary target of "rebranding" Britain. Instead of enjoying this country of nice old things, he wants to create a new "cool Britannia." Little surprise, then, that his passion for the modern has spread upward from Britain's House of Commons into the 700-year-old House of Lords. Under plans unveiled last week by Baroness Jay, the Labour...
Such a deeply unmodern institution must be top of the list for Blair's reforming zeal. But however much one may agree with him, one must surely admit that the Lords provide a venerable spectacle, full of idiosyncratic character. The sight of the Lord Chancellor in all his forbidding finery, slumped on the woolsack adjusting his wig, listening intently to the sound of sweet and reasoned discourse (mixed with the occasional grunt and snore) is civilized, faintly amusing and surprisingly effective in terms of its legislative product...
...this adds up to perhaps the gravest challenge to global capitalism since the Great Depression. And suddenly everyone from Malaysia's dictatorial Mahathir Mohamad to President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are calling for reform of the international monetary system that has held sway for a half-century. Their ideas range from Mahathir's ban on currency trading in depression-mired Malaysia to the Clinton Administration's talk of a new "global financial architecture" that would preserve a relatively free flow of capital while reducing the volatility of world financial markets. Says Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin: "Clearly...
More students showed up to see Nelson Mandela on September 18 than would have shown up to see Gerhard Schroder, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton together. Why? Because Mandela represents an archetype of one who is committed to truth and who is willing to sacrifice himself for justice, while these "ordinary guys" would be hard-pressed to spell "justice" before taking a poll. The irony of the special convocation two weeks ago is that Mandela seemed like an artifact receiving his honorary degree--a romantic afterthought in an age that has forgotten that men like him exist...
Schroder's election was probably a good thing for Germany; Kohl had worn out his welcome. But one gets the feeling that out of Clinton, Blair, Schroder and Kohl, the phrase "to hell with history," could only have come from Kohl's mouth--which...