Play With Words

英国首相交接的正式公告－－来自白金汉宫

Wednesday, 27th June 2007

BUCKINGHAM PALACE: Mr. Justice Griffith Williams was received by The Queen this morning upon his appointment as a Justice of the High Court when Her Majesty conferred upon him the honour of Knighthood and invested him with the Insignia of a Knight Bachelor.

Mr. Richard Stagg was received in audience by The Queen upon his appointment as British High Commissioner to the Republic of India.

Mrs. Stagg was also received by Her Majesty.

The Rt. Hon Tony Blair MP had an audience of The Queen this afternoon and tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury which Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept.

Mrs. Blair was also received by The Queen.

Her Majesty received in audience the Rt. Hon Gordon Brown MP and requested him to form a new Administration. The Rt. Hon Gordon Brown MP accepted The Queen’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.

Mrs. Brown was also received by Her Majesty.

看过 The Queen (2006) 都知道皇室礼仪(protocol)的重要性，还有一个谜团，到底有没有 kissed hands 呢？

Rt. Hon: Right honourable
MP: Member of Paliarment

在星期二布莱尔最后一次记者招待会上，布莱尔被问道对他的继任者有没有什么建议？我们来看记者们是如何话外听音的：

Simon Hoggart on the Guardian:

Someone asked if he had any advice for his successor. “No”, he snapped. “He is perfectly capable of doing the job on his own.” The word “Not!” hovered unspoken in the air.

Andrew Gimson on the Daily Telegraph:

“Do you have any advice for your successor?” another correspondent ventured, to which Mr Blair replied with a brevity almost worthy of Clement Attlee: “No. He’s perfectly capable of doing the job on his own, thank you.”

Some of us took this to mean that Mr Blair will leave Gordon Brown to make a terrible mess of being Prime Minister and will then have a jolly good laugh at his expense.

布莱尔上星期三在路透社发表的演讲中，公开抨击英国媒体，说媒体“追求震撼力，准确性其次”、“混淆新闻报道和评论”，引起很大反响，大部份媒体在承认他说得有道理之余，反击说布莱尔领导下的唐宁街十号就是最擅长控制和利用媒体的。

有意思的是他的原话：“In these modes it is like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits, but no one dares miss out. (在这种形势下，就像一头野兽，只顾连人带声誉撕成碎片，但没有媒体敢在此时抽身推出。)” 用于形容媒体常常群体围攻(政客)，象是“一头野兽”。我估计在他头脑中，是把记者们看成了“一群野狗”－－集体出动、不易不饶、不把猎物撕碎不罢休。Feral 本身只是“野生动物”，包括野山羊、野猫、野狗，但加上 beast，再加上上下文－－前面一句说“the media now hunting in a pack”(现在的媒体会合群攻击)－－“一群野狗”的形象呼之欲出了。

于是正如他说的，一个算是批评与自我批评的演讲，到后来只剩下“the feral beast”几个词还留在公众印象中，成为近几天来记者编辑喜欢挂在嘴边的词。是否以后会再经演变用在其它场合，就不得而知了。

Lucy Mangan of the Guardian describes the voice of Margaret Thatcher:

As the child of parents who worked in the NHS and the National Theatre, I was brought up to think of her as a one-woman hell on earth, but I popped a few pills and did my best to follow Marr’s examination of the Thatcherite years despite the fact that her voice – that self-aggrandising, cloying, patronised and patronising voice oozing out of that vicious, dead-eyed face – still paralyses me with fear and loathing.

I’m always amazed to see Thatcher is hated so much by some people.