Word: britain
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...their prime - which extends from the debut of Flying Circus through Life of Brian 10 years later - the Pythons were lauded as doing for comedy in the '70s what the Beatles did for pop music in the '60s. They extended Britain's primacy of Cool through a decade that, in other respects, was pretty bleak. Not that a Silly Walk through Harrod's could lessen the likelihood of an IRA bomb, or a thought of the Parrot sketch could warm a body through a winter rendered heatless by the oil embargo. But the Pythons lightened the load. Whatever the real...
...coconuts?") or political ("Who elected Him king?"), before abandoning the sketch altogether. Python skits programmed their own self-destruction; they'd be aborted midway with no punch line in sight. Indeed, MP&HG ends with Arthur and his Knights cantering out of the Dark Ages into modern Britain, where the film sputters brazenly to its close. But a Broadway show moves irrevocably toward cues for applause, either at the end of a scene or for the climax of a song. The crowd at a musical expects to applaud, they want to applaud. And we already know that applause is something...
...fewer children, and the French are far from alone among West European governments in seeking to encourage population growth, fearing economic stagnation as the workforce dwindles. For some governments, that means pushing traditional values. Others are trying to work with social change. In its first term of office, Britain's Labour government introduced tax credits to support families with children but axed benefits that applied only to married couples. In July, Britain's Public Health Minister floated proposals to allow the country's fertility clinics to take on female patients regardless of whether a prospective father was involved, which would...
...less religious, for starters. Last year, Italy recorded the lowest number of marriages in its history. In less devout countries such as Britain, almost two-thirds of marriages are conducted by civil authorities. One reason is that immigration and increased mobility within Europe are bringing together couples from different religious backgrounds who may find a civil union the best option. Sujata Naik and Ron Scapello puzzled over the possibilities. In the end, Naik, a dual British and U.S. national of Indian immigrant parents, brought up as a Hindu but educated at a convent school, took Scapello, a Briton of Maltese...
...politicians barred from office for breaking the rules and threatening the peaceful development of a multiethnic country. But now the U.S. and other Western countries plan to hand over responsibility for Bosnia to a European Union representative, possibly with strictly limited powers, by next July. Schwarz-Schilling, who succeeded Britain's Paddy Ashdown in the office earlier this year, has already adopted a more cautious approach than his predecessors. Bosnia's politicians need to "face the consequences of their own mistakes," he explained to Time, noting that a final call on whether or not the E.U. will wield executive powers...