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Blair Bows Out
By gary
The process of the handover from Prime Minister Tony Blair to Chancellor Gordon Brown has long been scripted. Act I began with the thrashed local elections--Labour lost councils all over the country and the Scottish National Party became the largest party in the Scottish Parliament. Brown wanted Blair to take responsibility for that.
Act II was Blair's announcement this morning that he will step down June 27. Act III will be Blair's endorsement of his rival, nemesis and next-door neighbour, which should take place some time tomorrow. And Act IV will be Brown's coronation in the summer.
The fact that it was written so far in advance gives some indication of how much the British people have been excluded from the whole process. This is no morality play. The rivalry between the two men has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with personal ambition--the denouement of a decade of midlife crisis played out on the international stage. This morning was the decisive moment because now there can be no turning back.
(11) CommentsMay 10, 2007
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Curtains for 'Rachel Corrie'
By gary
So much for freedom of speech, let alone thought.
The play My Name Is Rachel Corrie, directed in London by actor Alan Rickman and due to open in New York City in March, has been canceled for fear of controversy.
The play adapts the diaries of the 23-year-old woman from Seattle who was murdered in Rafah in 2003, when she was deliberately run down by an Israeli Defense Forces bulldozer. Rachel had traveled to the Gaza Strip during the last intifada as an activist for the International Solidarity Movement.
(11) CommentsFebruary 27, 2006
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