Word: britain
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...Britain is a small island, with an elite whose members all seem to know each other. Proof, if needed, came at a recent London performance of Gethsemane, David Hare's new play about rot in British politics. The audience was silver-haired and well-heeled. On some seats lay coats by Hare's fashion-designer wife, Nicole Farhi. And sitting in the audience was Lord Levy, a prominent Labour Party fund raiser who is Jewish and made his millions in pop music. Levy is widely seen as the model for the play's Otto Fallon, a Labour Party fund raiser...
...close friend's ingratitude? His gratitude - at least if you're Tony Blair and the buddy in question is George W. Bush. Later today in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Bush is set to dole out a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Blair, Britain's former Prime Minister. Blair has earned the bauble - previous recipients include Nelson Mandela and Doris Day - "for [his] efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad," according to the White House. Blair's spokesman seemed to tacitly acknowledge that Blair is being feted as much for the exercise...
...more trouble than he's worth; the kid who gets you into scrapes only to dematerialize just when the teacher catches you suspending a bucket of water over the classroom door; the roommate who loses keys, drinks the last of the milk and never washes the dishes. Blair, among Britain's most able and successful leaders, had the misfortune to befriend Bush and become embroiled in the U.S.'s international adventures. For this he has been named the recipient of the U.S.'s two top civilian medals. But those adventures contributed to a steep decline in Blair's popularity, which...
...That's a sentiment his pal from across the Atlantic can only hope proves true. A special envoy to the Middle East for the U.S.-Russia-E.U.-U.N. "Quartet" of powers since 2007, Blair has maintained a surprisingly low profile as Israeli forces move into Gaza. Back in Britain, his substantial legacy - a more affluent and, by some measures, fairer Britain - looks imperiled by the economic downturn. For the moment, a gold medallion, even one given by the lamest of lame ducks and for the most corrosive of reasons, might be the most tangible evidence of his lifetime...
...worry is that in the 1920s, the banking system in the U.S. was about $50 billion, which was about 50% of GDP. The banking system and the shadow banking system now are about 150% of GDP. In Britain it's 350% of GDP. The worry is that the financial system has become so large relative to the size of central banks that we've created something of a Frankenstein. No one really knows whether we can handle a financial system that...