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A woman was walking along one of the paths with a dog on a lead. She wore a grey tweed coat and transparent pink nylon gloves, and carried two books from the public library in a contraption of rubber straps. What is the use of noticing such details? Dulcie asked herself. It isn't as if I were a novelist or a private detective. Presumably such a faculty might be said to add to one' s enjoyment of life, but so often what one observed was neither amusing nor interesting, but just upsetting.
Barbara Pym, No Fond Return of Love

Reflections on the oldest professions
If whores, razzled by drugs and disease, with crumbling bones and wrinkled skin, must now be called sex workers, what are pimps? Sexual liaison co-ordinators?
· Lord of the Liaison [Link Poached from AlDaily ]

Every day the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as 'the lobby' for a topical chat, or 'briefing'.
Downing Street Says... is an unofficial site that lets you read summaries of these briefings and add your own comments. Want to know more or see what's new?
· See Also Only following orders?
· See Also Stop smiling -- this is meant to look serious! The spinners did a most unusual thing -- they allowed cameras in to tape a cabinet meeting, with sound and body language. But this wasn't a real cabinet meeting. The part the media saw was as phony as you'll find.
· See Also Rupert Murdoch: The James Bond comparison is not entirely unfair
· See Also Australia Day Committee (Victoria)
[ via Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an Internet civil liberties nonprofit organization ]