Here are the top non-U.S. world leaders in my 1986-2000 index:

1. Adolf Hitler... 4.5 lines in the index
Boris Yeltzin... 4.5
3. Saddam Hussein... 4
4. Mikhail Gorbachev... 3.5
5. Jesus... 3
Fidel Castro... 3
7. Pope John Paul II... 2.5
8. Yasir Arafat... 2
Margaret Thatcher... 2
10. Tony Blair... 1.5
Kim Jong Il... 1.5
Slobadan Milosovic... 1.5
Mao Zedong... 1 ( Read more... )

So, anyway, about a week ago I went to the bank and presented them with a check from my share-trading account in the U.S. for a pretty large sum of money (tens of thousands)...  This was so I could convert the money to British pounds and take advantage of the recent drop in the exchange rate before it possibly goes up again ( Read more... )

Here are some life goings-on back in the Summer of 2001...

June 2001

- Went to see Neil Young in concert in Sheffield.  Drove back up thru the Yorkshire Dales.

- Tony Blair won a second term as PM as Labour won in a landslide.  I couldn't vote (not a citizen).

- Jenny went to Greece on a school trip.

July 2001

- Went to see Bob Dylan in concert ( Read more... )

Stuff we already knew, but I like to see it in print ( Read more... )

Well, with November nearly over, it's time to reveal who this month's picks are for the ever-growing Newsmakers Hall of Fame...
They are:

Guy Fawkes... of gunpowder plot fame who gets burned in effigy every Nov. 5th

and

Tony Blair... who has also been burned in effigy on several occasions, and most recently burned by failing to get the EU ( Read more... )

News story from AOL ( Read more... )

Excerpts from the Guardian ( Read more... )

Top Secret information excerpted from the internets. Keep this under your tin-foil hat for now ( Read more... )

Here are some excerpts from the Daily Mail, regarding Blair joining JP Morgan:

Payback time for Mr Blair

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Despite having led a supposedly Left-leaning political party, the former prime minister and his wife have always had an unhealthy obsession with the lifestyles of the rich.

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But what really sticks in the craw is that JP Morgan is a U.S. bank ( Read more... )

( Read more... )