"There are known knowns. These are things we know that
we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there
are things we know we don't know. But there are also unknown
unknowns. These are things we don't know we don't know.
" Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, clarifying U.S.
policy on the war on terror at a Pentagon briefing, quoted
from Newsweek, 10th March 2003, p. 6
"Saddamned, perhaps, if you do [go to war against Iraq],
Saddamned, also, if you don't." The Economist, 22th
February 2003, p. 14
"The Bush folks are big on attitude, weak on strategy and
terrible at diplomacy." Thomas L. Friedman in The International
Herald Tribune, 20th February 2003 "He [Lord Irvine, the
Lord Chancellor] embodies the essence of conservative values
[...]. Conservative values from about 1452, perhaps, but
conservative values nonetheless." The Spectator,
15th February 2003, p. 9
"[...] Richard Perle, the Überhawk [...]" The Economist,
15th February 2003, p. 49
"A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday,
but never remembers her age." Robert Frost, quoted from
Spotlight, February 2003, p. 7
"Sour Krauts " Headline in The Economist, 25 January
2003, p. 35, on the current row between Gerhard Schröder
and the Mail on Sunday about his alleged marital
difficulties
"I trust Bush with my daughter, but I trust Clinton with
my job." Ironworker Craig Patterson, quoted from Newsweek,
27, January 2003, p. 6
"Sex education in schools has increased enormously over
the last generation; one obvious effect has been the massive
increase in teenage pregnancies. What else would we expect
from an education system that has produced seven million
illiterates?" Simon Carr in The Independent, 17,
January 2003
"It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than
to open one's mouth and remove all doubt." attributed to
Samuel Johnson, quoted from: Spotlight, January 2003,
p. 7
"The left has missed the boat in not grasping that unless
there is stability and order, progressive politics cannot
flourish.." David Blunkett, British Home Secretary, quoted
from: Time, December 2, 2002, p. 70
"If you are a human, you win life's lottery by being born
in the West; if you are an animal, on the other hand, you
are better born in the Third World: the environmental lobby
is more likely to come out fighting for you.." Ross Clark
on endangered species in: The Spectator, November
16, 2002
"Remember the good ole days (back in 1997), when kids actually
read 'Harry Potter' for fun? Then teachers crashed the party,
raising the former pleasure to required-reading status.
And, as anyone can tell you, when kids hafta, they don't
wanna." Elsie Christenson in: Newsweek, November
11, 2002, p. 8
"[...] he [Hobbes] might have sardonically observed that
all free thinkers throughout the world are ultimately parasitical
on American power to uphold freedom against despotism and
darkness." Paul Johnson in: The Spectator, October
26, 2002, p. 36
"[...] Mr Bush has one huge advantage over Mr Clinton:
people believe the guff about his being above politics.
Mr Clinton could not say "good morning" without people parsing
the remark for its political meaning. Mr Bush manages to
look above politics even when he is stumping out for his
fellow republicans." The Economist, October 19, 2002,
p. 54
"We want our books to be used." German publisher Georges
Hemmerstoffer, on printing works of literature on toilet
paper, quoted from: Newsweek, October 21, 2002, p.
6
"[...] Nancy Dell'Olio, who has been 37 for at least six
years [...]." The Weekly Telegraph, issue no. 586,
2002, p. 23, in a profile of Annunziata "Nancy" Dell'Olio,
the mistress of England's national football coach, Sven-Goran
Eriksson
"[...] the US is large, contains multitudes and often contradicts
itself. The America of the National Rifle association and
John Ashcroft is also the America of the Sierra Club and
the Civil Liberties Union." Anatol Lieven in: Prospect,
September, 2002, p. 23
"The Chestnut Grove School in Balham, south-west London,
began to offer the morning-after pill to 11-year-olds."
The Spectator, October 5, 2002, p. 8 (Portrait of
the Week)
"His [John Ashcroft's] presence at the justice department
always had more to do with the deal George Bush made with
the religious right than the former Missouri senator's own
aptitude for the job." The Guardian Weekly, Oct.
10-16, 2002, p. 6
"According to security officials, IRA documents seized
last week refer to Tony Blair as 'The Naive Idiot'." The
Weekly Telegraph, issue no. 585, 2002, p. 4
"In Europe and Asia, democracies are able to restrict individual
liberty in the name of the greater common good, but in America
there's no issue of social unity - gun control, energy conservation,
anti-smoking laws - that won't be fought under the rubric
of personal liberty." Gersh Kuntzman, columnist for the
New York Post, in: Newsweek, September 9, 2002, p.
53
"Our lives are becoming ruled by a truly absurd degree
of politically correct interference." Prince Charles, reacting
to a local council's decision to fell chestnut trees for
fear that falling nuts will hurt passers-by, quoted from:
Time, October 7, 2002, p. 27
"I've always had a soft spot for Germans, thinking it pretty
traumatising to grow up with the world telling you at every
possible moment, in every international forum, with every
bit of rhetoric and metaphor available, that your parents
or grandparents are an unholy bunch of sadistic murderers.
But given the remarks of Herr Schroeder and his justice
minister, the winsome Frau Herta Däubler-Gmelin comparing
President Bush to Adolf Hitler, I've had a Margaret Thatcher
moment of reassuring familiarity. We have gone full circle.
Most people of my vintage or earlier felt more comfortable
with the Germans as enemies than as trusted allies, and
the unnatural situation that obtained for the last 50 years
can now pass and they will be 'the enemy' once more." Barbara
Amiel in: The Spectator, 28September, 2002, p. 8
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