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Stalking young painter captures brooding Blair
When Lorna Wadsworth was invited to paint at a Labour Party conference,
she lurked in halls and outside rooms until she won a rare sitting with
Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“I had been stalking him all conference, because obviously he was the
prize beast. I had been kind of lying in wait for him, following him
around,” the 25-year-old portrait painter told Reuters on Friday.
“When I finally got my sitting with him he said, ‘Oh, it’s you!’ Because
he had been worrying who this crazy blonde girl was. So I guess he was
relieved to learn I was not a maniac.”
The result, a pensive, brooding Blair, goes on display on April 28,
alongside her renditions of other key government and party figures, at
the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual exhibition in London.
Despite having arguably one of the most distinctive faces in British
political history -- beloved of caricaturists, mocked by opponents --
Blair has rarely sat for formal portraits.
Wadsworth got him to sit in a hotel room on the sidelines of the party’s
conference in 2003, at a time when Labour was riven over Blair’s
decision to join the United States in war in Iraq and the prime
minister’s own future was being cast into doubt.
Blair is joined in the series by top party luminaries, including former
cabinet ministers Clare Short and Robin Cook who resigned angrily over
the war. Short scowls severely, but Cook, a former foreign secretary,
smiles cheerfully.
“It’s interesting: it’s very angular. He’s got very pronounced cheek
bones. He has got incredibly blue eyes in real life. Almost
disconcertingly blue.”
The trick is capturing the true personality of a politician in an era
when leaders obsessively manage their images.
“I think in this age, more than any other, it matters what a politician
looks like. Nowadays they have to be TV friendly, the right tie with the
right suit,” she said. “Part of being a politician in today’s day and
age is controlling what appears on your face.”
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A law dogs would write, if they were
Lawyers...
Dog owners in Turin will be fined up to $650 if they don’t walk their
pets at least three times a day, under a new law from the city’s
council.
People will also be banned from dyeing their pets’ fur or “any form of
animal mutilation” for merely aesthetic motives such as docking dogs’
tails, under the law about to be passed in the northern Italian city.
“In Turin it will be illegal to turn one’s dog into a ridiculous fluffy
toy,” the city’s La Stampa daily reported.
Italians can already be fined up to 10,000 euros and spend a year in
prison if found guilty of torturing or abandoning their pets, but
Turin’s new rules go into much greater detail.
Dogs may be led for walks by people on bicycles, the rules say, “but not
in a way that would tire the animal too much.”
Italy considers itself an animal-loving nation and in many cities stray
cats are protected by law. Still some 150,000 pet dogs and 200,000 cats
are abandoned in Italy every year, according to animal rights groups.
To enforce the law, Turin police would rely largely on the help of
tipsters spotting cruel treatment by their neighbors, La Stampa
reported.
It said the 20-page rulebook gives Turin the most stringent animal
protection rules in the country. It even bans fairgrounds from giving
away goldfish in plastic bags. |
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When Rava asks you to turn out the light...
A paratrooper in India bit off part of a colleague’s nose after an
argument over switching off the light, police said Friday.
The two soldiers from India’s Eastern Frontier Rifles were alone in
their barracks Wednesday night when Lance Corporal Bhupesh Rava lost his
cool because his roommate wanted the lights on for a little while
longer.
An enraged Rava, who had returned from daytime duty, attacked Sepoy
Durga Lama, pinned him down and gnawed off his nose, police said.
“People came to Lama’s rescue after hearing his shouts for help,” said
Ranvir Kumar, deputy commissioner of police.
Lama, bleeding profusely, was taken to hospital while his attacker stood
in a corner with bloody lips, he said.
Lama told the police that he had asked Rava to “wait for five minutes”
before turning the light out while he got dressed to go for his night
duty.
Doctors operated on Lama Thursday to fix the bitten chunk of flesh back
on his nose. Rava was arrested.
The Eastern Frontier Rifles is a state paramilitary force specializing
in tackling a Maoist insurgency in the eastern state of West Bengal, of
which Calcutta is the capital. |
Tailpiece
Things NOT to say during sex
Sex is one of the most intimate, personal things two people can share.
Here are some things to NOT say during that occasionally intimate act.
I hope you don't expect a raise for this.
Are you trying to be funny?
You're almost as good as my ex.
Haven't you ever done this before?
You're so much like your sister.
What's your name again?
I think the condom broke 10 minutes ago.
Hold on, let me change the channel.
How much do I owe you?
I'm still looking for your good side.
Did I tell you my Aunt Martha died in this bed?
On second thought, let's turn out the lights.
Your best friend does this much better. |