Play With Words

越来越流行的开放式办公室真的会提高工作效率吗？这篇文章比较简短和清晰。

Do open plan offices work?
Leo Benedictus
The Guardian,
Tuesday October 14 2008

Gordon Brown certainly thinks so. Yesterday it was reported that the prime minister will shortly be moving his team into 12 Downing Street, where there is room to create a large shared space that will reflect his famously relaxed personality and laid-back working style.

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Michael White uses the analogy to tell us what they are like:

If Mrs Thatcher was matron and John Major that nice bus conductor on the No 63, Tony Blair was an upmarket estate agent. But Brown is a hellfire preacher whose media handlers have told him to go easy on the hellfire stuff because it reduces the Sunday collection.

matron: A woman who acts as a supervisor or monitor in a public institution, such as a school, hospital, or prison.

hellfire: Portending future disaster

Simon Hoggart described the strangeness of last week’s Prime Minister’s Question Times (PMQ) in the Guardian:

It was a question time full of jollity. David Cameron floored Gordon Brown by agreeing with him. In private they probably concur on many things, but it doesn’t do to say so in front of the children, so this came as a surprise.

他用了两个比喻，floored 和 in front of the childre，形象地解释了 PMQ 的意义。

Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQ) 是英国首相每周一次来到议会辩论厅，面对全体议员回答问题的时刻。PMQ 的作用，让我想起我们看古代演义小说时，常出现的两军对阵，主将出马单挑的情形。如果一方主将被“斩于马下”，马上全军“阵脚大乱”、“望风而逃”。当然我们知道仗不是这么打的，将军们只要坐阵指挥，无需单挑比武功。但是演义小说如果没了武将单挑，便少了一大乐趣，现代政治也是一样。于是 PMQ 虽然名义上是给予所有议员质询首相的机会，但看点其实是反对党领袖如何单挑首相，连回合都规定好了，有6次机会。上周 David Cameron 把布朗打翻在地 (floored)，保守党这边自然是“旌旗招展”、欢声雷动。

Simon Hoggart 接着又用反喻，把 PMQ 比作夫妻吵架－－原应回避孩子们，但 PMQ 时，众议员们象是一群习惯了父母吵架的孩子，看着父母和和睦睦反而莫明其妙了。

It doesn’t do 是一种因为老式而有趣味的表达方法。在 BBC 的古装剧 Cranford 中，古板的 Deborah 就爱用这种表达方法，特别是当她觉得某种行为不合礼仪的时候。

今天早晨几个抗议者爬上议会大厦屋顶，挂起横幅，投下纸飞机，在屋顶上向媒体打手机接受采访。警察也不用强，耐心劝导抗议者自动“下台”。

这已经不是第一次有抗议者爬上议会大厦，为今天的抗议增加一点意味的是，当3个抗议者还在议会大厦屋顶的时候，首相布朗来到议会大厦，照常出席每周三的 Prime Minister’s Question Time。

Gordon Brown:

The message should go out today clearly that decisions in this country should be made in the Chamber of this House and not on the roof of this House.

这是Gordon Brown 在 PMQ 上迄今最为精彩的一句。

昨天是欧盟里斯本协议正式签署的日子，欧盟27国领导人，26个济济一堂，完成签署仪式，独缺英国首相布朗。他在3个小时后赶到里斯本，出席了一个只有他一个人的签署仪式，他的理由是“日程冲突” (diary clash)。他安排了今天早上出席与众议院各个委员会主席的每月会谈，所以姗姗来迟。

这一“日程冲突”，布朗成功地得罪了所有人。

对于欧盟其它国家来说，这一举动象征了英国对于欧盟的三心二意的一贯态度。

对于英国亲欧洲派来说，既然决定签署里斯本协议，又何必用“日程冲突”这样可笑的借口，显得不敢见人？一贯亲欧洲的《卫报》社论标题是温和却不悦的 It is polite to turn up on time.

其它媒体，特别是一贯反欧洲的，自然不会这么客气。在今天的报纸上：

《太阳报》(The Sun) 头版引用了邱吉尔二战时面对纳粹入侵时演讲名言：

We Shall Never Surrender

《 每日快报》(The Daily Express) 头版的大字是：

Mr Bean Signs Away Our Freedom

由自由民主党代理党魁 Vince Cable 首先使用的 Mr Bean ，正在开始深入民心，连 BBC 驻欧盟的记者 Mark Mardell 也忍不住，在他的 BBC 博客上说：

All Gordon Brown needs to do today is get his red box trapped in a revolving door to turn his brief trip to Lisbon into “Mr Bean goes on holiday”.

在昨天的 Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQ)上，保守党议员 Greg Hands 也来嘲笑 Gordon Brown:

With three different police investigations under way, two members of his cabinet … falling foul of the law, and his general secretary facing charges, is this what he meant when he called himself a ‘conviction’ politician?”

Simon Hoggart’s Guardian sketch: The cruel spectacle of Brown at bay.

在上周的“首相问答时间”(Prime Minister’s Question Time, PMQ)中，临时担任自由民主党魁的 Vince Cable 抛出了首相布朗“从斯大林变成憨豆先生”这么一个说法，引起众议院满堂哄笑。他说：

The house has noticed the prime minister’s the remarkable transformation in the last few weeks – from Stalin to Mr Bean.

你可以在路透社的网站上看到这段录像。

所谓 Gordon Brown 是斯大林的说法，来自前内阁秘书 Lord Turnbull。他在 Brown 即将上任时，对《金融时报》说：

You cannot help admire the sheer Stalinist ruthlessnes of it all.

“你不得不佩服其(指布朗的运作班子)斯大林式的强悍与冷酷”，这真是明捧暗讽的典型了。从斯大林式的铁腕，到憨豆先生笨手笨脚、时时可能出差错的形象，反差十分可笑，难怪各家媒体纷纷引用，成为城中谈资。

From Stalin to Mr Bean – The Daily Telegraph

Not so much Stalin as Mr Bean: Gordon Brown is made to play the fool in stage farce – The Times

对于政客来说，如果被认为是铁腕，那还好办；成为众人讥讽嘲笑的对象，不仅尴尬，而且十分危险，因为这意味着权威的丧失。好在布朗长得还不象憨豆－－至少他一点不好笑。

Gordon Brown used the word ‘passerelle‘ in his first Common’s speech after signing the new EU treaty in Lisbon. Guardian’s Simon Hoggart helpfully looked it up from an EU website:

…Instead it means “a word meaning a footbridge, referring to the possibility of either moving a policy area from the intergovernmental third pillar to the supra-national first pillar, or changing the voting rules in the council, or the extension of the article’s scope of application.”

No wonder we are not getting a referendum.

I have read the sentence three times. Still clueless.

《卫报》(The Guardian)的 Michael White 有着一手风趣的文笔。有关这次提前大选风波，他写道：

…But what mattered yesterday was that Mr Brown blinked first. In the long run it may not prove to be what managers sometimes call a CLM – a career limiting moment. If he recovers strongly the “Bottler Brown” jibe will fade.

But the weekend’s drama was defintely a career enhancing moment for two of the other players. Mr Cameron may just have had a “people’s princess” moment with the Middle Britain public. And this was surely the day when Mr Marr inherited one of nation’s great constitutional offices. From here on he is The Dimbleby of State.

Mr Marr : Andrew Marr. 原 BBC 政治编辑 (political editor)，现在担任 BBC One 星期天早晨的政治清谈节目 The Andrew Marr Show。这次 Gordon Brown 就是选择他的节目宣布不会有提前的大选。此举代表了 Andrew Marr 的节目在英国政治生活中的重要地位－－与另一位资深的时事节目主持人 Johnathan Dimbleby 看齐。

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