LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair was left red-faced when he was caught travelling on a train without a ticket and said he had no cash to pay the fare. Mr Blair, who has earned about pound stg. 500,000 on the speaking circuit since leaving office in June, was confronted by a ticket inspector as he travelled to Heathrow to catch a flight to the US on Monday, the Daily Mail reported last night. He said he had no cash for the pound stg. 24.50 ($51.27) fare because money an aide had given him was no longer in his pocket.
LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair was left red-faced when he was caught travelling on a train without a ticket and said he had no cash to pay the fare.
Mr Blair, who has earned about pound stg. 500,000 on the speaking circuit since leaving office in June, was confronted by a ticket inspector as he travelled to Heathrow to catch a flight to the US on Monday, the Daily Mail reported last night.
He said he had no cash for the pound stg. 24.50 ($51.27) fare because money an aide had given him was no longer in his pocket.
money an aide had given him was no longer in his pocket.
Beware the Cherie goodbye kiss.
A year after his victory in the first round of French presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy will attempt tonight to refloat an administration which threatens to sink into a morass of internal bickering and popular discontent. President Sarkozy will use a prime-time television interview to try to recapture the lost image of a reforming man of action, close to the people, which took him to the ElyséePalace in the two-round election last April and May. After a slight recovery in his poll ratings, M. Sarkozy has floundered in three surveys this week. His approval ratings, varying between 28 and 35 per cent, are the lowest for any year-old presidency since the launch of the Fifth Republic half a century ago. In other words, M. Sarkozy, who had sold himself to voters as "anti-Chirac" - a man of action and a man of his word - is even less popular than President Jacques Chirac after a first, calamitous, shilly-shallying year in office in 1995-96.
A year after his victory in the first round of French presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy will attempt tonight to refloat an administration which threatens to sink into a morass of internal bickering and popular discontent.
President Sarkozy will use a prime-time television interview to try to recapture the lost image of a reforming man of action, close to the people, which took him to the ElyséePalace in the two-round election last April and May.
After a slight recovery in his poll ratings, M. Sarkozy has floundered in three surveys this week. His approval ratings, varying between 28 and 35 per cent, are the lowest for any year-old presidency since the launch of the Fifth Republic half a century ago.
In other words, M. Sarkozy, who had sold himself to voters as "anti-Chirac" - a man of action and a man of his word - is even less popular than President Jacques Chirac after a first, calamitous, shilly-shallying year in office in 1995-96.
