Word: sir
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...ashamed of it." So says a cynical newspaperman to an equally cynical speculator in The Gilded Age by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner. The speculator, though, sees virtues in the corrupt system: "We would have to go without the services of some of our ablest men, sir, if the country were opposed to--to--bribery. It is a harsh term. I do not like to use it." John T. Noonan Jr., 58, professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley, feels quite differently about the term. In a monumental new book bluntly titled Bribes (Macmillan; $29.95), he applies...
...dressing room after a performance. On the wall hangs a poster of the aerialiste drawn, as the subject coarsely confides, by "some Frog dwarf "; it is signed "Toujours, Toulouse." Fevvers plies the reporter with champagne and assures him, "I never docked via what you might call the normal channels, sir, oh, dear me, no; but, just like Helen of Troy, was hatched...
...Spain's chagrin, the British have possessed the Mediterranean fortress since 1704, when British Admiral Sir George Rooke seized the 2.25-sq.-mi. peninsula during the War of Spanish Succession. Gibraltar's residents (now 31,183) have rebuffed repeated Spanish attempts to reclaim the territory. In 1969, Spanish Dictator General Francisco Franco cut land, sea and telephone links with the colony. His intention: literally to starve Gibraltar's inhabitants into agreeing to a reunion with Spain. But the Gibraltarians, determined to remain under British rule, turned to nearby Morocco for supplies...
Gibraltarians are apprehensive about the changes the influx of Spaniards could bring to the colony. Some fear that Gibraltar may become financially dependent on its larger neighbor and in time lose its special character. To address these concerns, Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe of Britain, Foreign Minister Fernando Moran of Spain and Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Sir Joshua Hassan, met in Geneva last week and agreed to hold annual talks that will include the delicate question of sovereignty. But in Gibraltar, union with Spain still seems to be an unpopular idea. Says Joe Bossano, leader of the opposition Gibraltar Socialist...
...great stature, however, are few and far between. History especially affords us with few examples of such men. One, though, certainly seems to be Sir Thomas More. More is a figure familiar to most. The author of a great book, a lawyer, a man of wit, charm and learning. More was also a martyr, the man who gave up his life rather than forfeit his principles. He has been made familiar to us through several biographies and, perhaps most permanently by the play and film. A Man for All Seasons...