(no subject)
Out for a quick drink after work this evening with a friend who's back from the Middle East, who told us about Abdul Hamid II of Turkey banning various words that might encourage people to rebel against him, like 'freedom' and 'parliament' and 'deputy' and 'dynamite'. Oh, and 'nose'. Because he had a very large one. Apparently a French theatre company who arrived in Istanbul to present their production of Cyrano had to go home with it unperformed.
Inevitably we speculated what words current party leaders here would ban if they could, and came up with:
Tony Blair: socialism; Gordon Brown; National Health Service
Michael Howard: vampire; opinion poll
Charles Kennedy: coalition; beer
Inevitably we speculated what words current party leaders here would ban if they could, and came up with:
Tony Blair: socialism; Gordon Brown; National Health Service
Michael Howard: vampire; opinion poll
Charles Kennedy: coalition; beer