Word: britain
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...only the fifth British Prime Minister ever to address Congress, he might have reconsidered the fourth paragraph of that speech. Like a nervous entertainer at a particularly rowdy children's party, Brown pulled his rabbit out of the hat almost at the start of his act. Her Majesty - Britain's Queen - had bestowed an honorary knighthood on "Sir Edward Kennedy," he announced...
...November, the British Home Office introduced a points-based system to crack down on illegal immigration and create what its website describes as "a significantly more straightforward and transparent structure." It's easy enough for foreign trapeze artists and acrobats to secure the requisite points for entry into Britain based on their unique skills. But ringmasters say various problems with the new system - including faulty computer software and poorly trained embassy staff - are preventing international talent from reaching Britain's big tops...
...totally incompatible with the needs of Britain's circus sector. According to Malcolm Clay, secretary of the Association of Circus Proprietors of Great Britain, British circus schools don't produce artists at an acceptable standard, largely because their students refine skills like tightrope-walking or fire-breathing as a hobby, not as part of a lifelong career. As a result, British circuses rely on artists from countries with long-established histories of state-sponsored circus schools: they call on Argentina and Colombia for their renowned high-wire acts, China and North Korea for acrobats, and Mongolia and Russia for horse...
...pity, but this problem is all over Europe," says Arie Oudenes, managing director of the European Circus Association, a trade group that represents the interests of 120 circuses. But British proprietors believe that Britain's red tape has made their challenge more acute. The website through which foreign applicants must now register has reportedly crashed multiple times. Plus, there's a more general question of access. "A lot of families in Mongolia don't have computers," Lacey says. "These are genuine riders who tend to their horses and work with their flocks when they're not working in the circus...
...Glasgow kiss." Typically preceded by some variation of the growled question "Whit ya [expletive] lookin' at?" the term refers to a vicious headbutt, as delivered all too often in the bars and on the streets of Scotland's largest city. Alcohol-fueled violence and binge-drinking are endemic across Britain, but the phenomenon is especially acute north of the border - and it's getting worse. That's why Scottish ministers this week announced radical plans to curb excess drinking...