How the Mosley Orgy Ruling Could Affect U.K. Media | Newsweek International

Executive Power
Kevin Peraino 8/26/2009 12:00:00 AM
In Israel, the office of the presidency is similar to the modern monarchy in England. The president, like the royal family, is largely ceremonial. Real power lies with the prime minister and Parliament. The president travels the world, greets foreign dignitaries, and, to some extent, plays the role of national entertainer. Like British sovereigns, when things go badly, he acts as a whipping boy upon whom Israelis vent their frustrations. Presidents who are accused of misbehaving—like Moshe Katsav, who will likely go on trial later this year on rape charges—are flayed by Israel's version of Fleet Street like their naughty royal counterparts. Amid the running soap opera, one occasionally hears murmurs that the office is obsolete and embarrassing, and should be abolished.
SATIRE
London’s Lords of Spin
William Underhill 5/2/2009 12:00:00 AM
At the beginning of "In the Loop"—British director Armando Ianucci's first feature film, set in a thinly disguised, not-so-distant past—hardliners in London and Washington are pressing for war. But behind the backstabbing politicians and the scheming military generals, a much nastier breed of political creature pulls the strings of power: the out-of-control spin doctors who bully ministers and happily distort facts to strengthen the country's murky case for conflict.
SOCIETY
When a Young Mother Dies
Susanna Schrobsdorff 3/24/2009 12:00:00 AM
When my daughter was two weeks old, I was standing at the top of some steps and, for a minute, I held her tighter because I was truly afraid that the wind would blow her out of my arms. It sounds crazy now, but the urge to protect your child is hardwired and sometimes irrational. Indeed, for the first few years of their lives, it seems like our main occupation is to keep them from certain death. You scoop tiny chokeable bits of things out of their mouths; you grab them by the pants just before they fall off a chair, the stairs, the top of the slide; you stop them from prying old gum off the sidewalk.
PAPER
Putting It Down on The Page
Anita Kirpalani 2/21/2009 12:00:00 AM
A fountain pen is only as good as the paper it's used on. Bleeding ink, floating stains and seepage through the page are just a few of the hazards that can befall even the most luxurious writing instrument. Fortunately, there are a number of companies dedicated to supplying a platform worthy of the pen. The London stationer Smythson, established in 1887, holds royal warrants for the queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales. Its Nile-blue "featherweight paper", copyrighted in 1916, is quite fine yet does not let ink bleed through. Smythson also makes lambskin notebooks with floppy bindings known as Panamas, just like the hats.
DAVOS SPECIAL: RECESSION WINNERS
The Stars of The Recession
1/10/2009 12:00:00 AM
It's only when darkness falls that the stars start to twinkle. Similarly, sometimes it takes a pitch-black economy to reveal who and what in the business firmament really shines. Although they're not likely to get their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the people, companies and places on our list have shown that they can not only survive an economic tsunami, they can surf its crest to the top.
BRITAIN
Kinky Sex, Please, We're British
Rod Nordland 4/12/2008 12:00:00 AM
What is it about British public figures and sex scandals? Not only do they seem to have more of them, they tend to be more picturesque, more frequent, and more overexposed than anyone else's. From the Profumo scandal in the cold war, when a British minister and a Russian spy were sharing the same call girl, to the trials of David Blunkett, the Home Secretary in Tony Blair's Labour administration, they're a regular feature of the public life in a country with an aggressive tabloid press that often is ready and eager to make itself part of the story.