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Attack Poodle
Attack poodle is a political epithet or pejorative that typically denotes a vociferous but utterly servile defender of a given political leader, party, or faction. It gained popular currency in 2002 when Paul Marsden a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, British Parliament who ran afoul of the Labour Party (UK), Labour party Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong charged that Prime Minister Tony Blair was setting out "one of his attack poodles" to bring him or her into line. It is a partly facetious expression that has been used in United Kingdom, British and United States, American politics, equivalent in meaning to a party hack. The term was further popularized by the American culture critic James Wolcott in his 2004 book, ''Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants, Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants: The Looting of the News in a Time of Terror'', a critique of popular right-wing TV news personalities who he claims are increasingly dominating the mainstream media in America. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It can also be a descriptive title: for example, Pallas Athena, Phoebus Apollo, Alfred the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent, and Władysław I the Elbow-high. Many English monarchs have traditional epithets: some of the best known are Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionheart, Æthelred the Unready, John Lackland and Bloody Mary. The word ''epithet'' can also refer to an abusive, defamatory, or derogatory phrase. This use as a euphemism is criticized by Martin Manser and other proponents of linguistic prescription. H. W. Fowler complained that "epithet is suffering a vulgarization that is giving it an abusive imputation." Linguistics Epithets are somet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pejorative
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a term is regarded as pejorative in some social or ethnic groups but not in others, or may be originally pejorative but later adopt a non-pejorative sense (or vice versa) in some or all contexts. Etymology The word ''pejorative'' is derived from a Late Latin past participle stem of ''peiorare'', meaning "to make worse", from ''peior'' "worse". Pejoration and melioration In historical linguistics, the process of an inoffensive word becoming pejorative is a form of semantic drift known as pejoration. An example of pejoration is the shift in meaning of the word ''silly'' from meaning that a person was happy and fortunate to meaning that they are foolish and unsophisticated. The process of pejoration can repeat itself around a single conc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Marsden
Paul William Barry Marsden (born 18 March 1968) is a British writer, businessman and former politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shrewsbury and Atcham from 1997 until 2005. He was most prominently known for his anti-war views and crossing the floor twice (the first to do so since Winston Churchill), from Labour to the Liberal Democrats in 2001 and returning to Labour in 2005. He instructed a solicitor in 2010 to begin action for phone hacking that allegedly took place back in 2003 by a newspaper. In 2012, Marsden was appointed to draft the parliamentary inquiry report into VIP security at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. Currently Marsden is Head of Business Intelligence at the construction company MWH Global. Early life Marsden was born in Frodsham in Cheshire to Thomas Darlington Marsden, a distribution manager and Labour councillor and Audrey Stott, a school teacher. He was educated at Helsby High School. Marsden completed a diploma in build ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of The United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses Parliamentary sovereignty, legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and the overseas territories. Parliament is Bicameralism, bicameral but has three parts, consisting of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign (King-in-Parliament), the House of Lords, and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons (the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, primary chamber). In theory, power is officially vested in the Queen-in-Parliament, King-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the prime minister, and the powers of the House of Lords are limited to only delaying legislation; thus power is ''de facto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922 United Kingdom general election, 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition (United Kingdom), Official Opposition. There have been six Labour List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom, prime ministers and thirteen Labour Cabinet of the United Kingdom, ministries. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference, at which party policy is formulated. The party was founded in 1900, having grown out of the Labour movement, trade union movement and History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, socialist List of political parties in the United Kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom In British politics, the Chief Whip of the governing party in the House of Commons is usually also appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, a Cabinet position. The Government Chief Whip has an official residence at 12 Downing Street. However, the Chief Whip's office is currently located at 9 Downing Street. The Chief Whip can wield great power over their party's MPs, including cabinet ministers, being seen to speak at all times with the voice of the Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher was known for using her Chief Whip as a "cabinet enforcer". The role of Chief Whip is regarded as secretive, as the Whip is concerned with the discipline of their own party's Members of Parliament, never appearing on television or radio in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hilary Armstrong
Hilary Jane Armstrong, Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top, DL (born 30 November 1945) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham from 1987 to 2010. Early life Armstrong was born on 30 November 1945 to Hannah P. Lamb and Ernest Armstrong, a Labour Party politician. She attended Monkwearmouth Grammar School before going on to take a BSc in sociology at West Ham Technical Institute (now the University of East London) and a Diploma in Social Work from the University of Birmingham. A former social worker and university lecturer, Armstrong worked for VSO in Kenya before entering politics. She was first elected as Durham County Councillor for Crook North Division in 1985. She was shortlisted for the vacant Sedgefield constituency in 1983, only to lose out to Tony Blair, who went on to be elected MP. Four years later, at the 1987 general election, she was elected to her father's North West Durham seat on his retirement, incre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, and had served in various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007. He is the second longest serving prime minister in modern history after Margaret Thatcher, and is the longest serving Labour politician to have held the office. Blair attended the independent school Fettes College, and studied law at St John's College, Oxford, where he became a barrister. He became involved in Labour politics and was elected to the House of Commons in 1983 for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham. As a backbencher, Blair supported moving the party to the political centre of British politics. He was appointed to Neil Kinnock's shadow cabi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many List of islands of the United Kingdom, smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is , with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine United States Minor Outlying Islands, Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in Compact of Free Association, free association with three Oceania, Pacific Island Sovereign state, sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Palau, Republic of Palau. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders Canada–United States border, with Canada to its north and Mexico–United States border, with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the List of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Party Hack
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature food and beverages, and often conversation, music, dancing, or other forms of entertainment. Some parties are held in honor of a specific person, day, or event, such as a birthday party, a Super Bowl party, or a St. Patrick’s Day party. Parties of this kind are often called celebrations. A party is not necessarily a private occasion. Public parties are sometimes held in restaurants, pubs, beer gardens, nightclubs, or bars, and people attending such parties may be charged an admission fee by the host. Large parties in public streets may celebrate events such as Mardi Gras or the signing of a peace treaty ending a long war. Types Balls Banquets Birthday party A birthday party is a celebration of the anniversary of the birth of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Wolcott
James Wolcott (born December 10, 1952) is an American journalist, known for his critique of contemporary media. Wolcott is the cultural critic for '' Vanity Fair'' and contributes to ''The New Yorker''. He had his own blog on ''Vanity Fair'' magazine's main site which was awarded a Webby Award in 2007. Background and education Wolcott was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in a suburban setting. He attended Maryland's Frostburg State College for two years. From there, he moved to New York City, to work at ''The Village Voice,'' first in the circulation department answering phone complaints, then as a receptionist. He is married to Laura Jacobs, a contributing editor at ''Vanity Fair''. He began practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique in 2007. Career Since arriving in New York, Wolcott has been a columnist on media and pop culture for such publications as ''Esquire'', ''Harper's Magazine'', ''The New Yorker'', ''The New York Review of Books'', and ''New York M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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