Говори и пиши как The Eсonomist

In the year 15AD, during the short-lived Xin dynasty, a rumour spread that a yellow dragon, a symbol of the emperor, had in- auspiciously crashed into a temple in the mountains of central China and died. Ten thousand people rushed to the site. The em­peror Wang Mang, aggrieved by such seditious gossip, ordered arrests and interrogations to quash the rumour, but never found the source. He was dethroned and killed eight years later, and Han-dynasty rule was restored. You only need to move your lips to start a rumour, but you need to run until your legs are broken to refute one.

For the Democrats, this is a great opportunity. For years, they have en­joyed a consistent advantage over Republicans on "mommy" issues, such as education and health care. But Republicans have trounced them on "daddy" issues, such as killing terrorists and defending the homeland. The Democrats have lost a lot of elections because they are easy to cari­cature as the party that thinks "there are no enemies, just friends whose grievances we haven't yet accommodated."

Even an optimist would not describe Pakistan's glass as half full — keeping it unbroken may be the best one could hope for.

Cronyism is as American as apple pie. All countries have their cronies. That much-cited model of moral rectitude, Tony Blair, is so surrounded by them that they are called "Tony's cronies" (he made his old roommate, Charlie Falconer, Lord Chancellor). Edith Cresson, a European commis­sioner, appointed her dentist to an advisory position. But you expect that sort of thing in Brussels. America's problem is the contrast between high- minded idealism and low practice. America regards itself as the world's purest meritocracy — a country based on talent, not patronage and toady­ism. A quick glance at history shows this is rubbish. Most presidents surround themselves with a regional mafia: look at Carter's Georgians or Reagan's Californians or Clinton's Arkansans. These mafias produce some rum appointments: Jimmy Carter made his one-time campaign driv­er, Jody Powell, his press secretary; Bill Clinton made his chum from Miss Marie's kindergarten in Hope, Thomas McLarty, his chief of staff. Scandals are endemic. Harry Truman's Missouri cronies had a weakness for gifts of mink coats and freezers (an issue in the 1952 election). As for the antics of Mr. Clinton's Arkansas buddies, the less said the better.

Englishmen never will be slaves: they are free to do whatever the government and public opinion allow them to do.

In Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s, as in much of the South, the first four rows of seats were for whites only. No more than four rows were needed, since few whites, and those poor ones, took the bus anyway. But whether they were filled or not, no black could sit there. Blacks sat at the back, in "Coloured", where they belonged. Between the two worlds was a middle section. Blacks could sit there, but if a white needed their seat they were expected to vacate not one seat, but the whole row, in order to spare the white the embarrassment of sitting by a nigger.

93% of political spots on the Golf Channel are Republican, on Comedy Central, by contrast, the ads are 86% Democratic.

Rwanda's two main tribes, the Hutus and the Tutsis, have skirmished since pre-colonial times, but organised massacres are a modern evil. There used to be a lot of movement between the groups, but the Belgian colonists, who ruled from 1916 until 1962, judged that the tall, thin Tut- sis were superior to the shorter, flat-nosed Hutus, and decided to rule through them. They deposed Hutu chiefs in favour of Tutsis, favoured Tutsis in admissions to colonial schools, and created a legacy of eth­nic resentment. They also issued every Rwandan with an ethnic iden­tity card; these were to prove an invaluable tool for genocidaires who wanted to know whom to kill.

Neandertals were dim-witted brutes who lived a crude lifestyle.

Wasn't there at least a dog Hillary once omitted to kick or a child whose lollipop she didn't steal? They talked about linking American power with American ideals: but it turned out, at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, that power can corrupt those ideals.

To require senators to shuffle out of the door when they turn 75 rather than waiting to be carried out feet first.

To do the right deed for the wrong reason, T. S. Eliot wrote, is "the great­est treason" — a familiar one in the world of politics.

The people running Iran are not mystical, millenarian illuminati, but cold-blooded totalitarians.

The real problems start when politics comes into play.

Britishness (as opposed to the more tribal Englishness) has become an inclusive identity, based more on values than an­cestry.

Secret societies run through the tapestry of Italy's history like a half- hidden thread.

As an Arab sociologist puts it, in a tribal society you do not buy loyalty, you only rent it.

What does Islamist mean?