| | Words in the News |
INTRO | | Following his victory in the general election, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has appointed Jack Straw as Britain’s Foreign Secretary in place of Robin Cook. Rick Fountain reported for the BBC. |
IN FULL | |  | Listen to the report in full |
 |  | 11th June 2001
Britain's new Foreign Secretary |
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NEWS 1 | | | Listen to the first part of the report |
| | | Jack Straw has travelled a long way from very modest beginnings. His childhood home was a post war council maisonette in the outer reaches of working class London, and his path seems set to continue upwards. Nowadays, in the wake of his four-year term as Home Secretary, the public perception of Straw is that of a man austere and correct, a sober-suited authoritarian, the natural ally of any police chief constable. He wasn’t always like that. Thirty years ago, before starting a career as a lawyer, Jack Straw often made the front page of national newspapers as an anti-establishment firebrand president of the National Union of Students. But already he was showing a talent for organisation, and an ability to master detail. |
| | | | Listen to the words |
WORDS | | travelled a long way: if you say that someone has travelled a long way you mean that their circumstances have changed from one time in their lives to the present
modest: something that is modest is quite small in size or amount. Here the word means humble or not special
council maisonette: a maisonette is a small flat on two floors of a larger building. A council maisonette is owned by the local town council and rented to people to live in
in the wake of: if one thing follows in the wake of another, it happens as a result of it
austere: strict and serious
a sober-suited authoritarian: someone who wants to control other people rather than letting them decide things for themselves
made the front page: became well known in the media
a firebrand: you describe someone as being a firebrand when they are very active in politics and always trying to get people to take strong action |
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| NEWS 2 | | | Listen to the second part of the report |
| | | Mr Straw’s appointment as Foreign Secretary, in place of Robin Cook, has triggered speculation in London about the Prime Minister’s motives for the change. It seems likely to be linked to the overriding foreign policy question, at the moment - whether Britain should abandon sterling and become part of the Euro Zone. Mr Cook was widely perceived as strongly in favour; Mr Straw argued in Cabinet, it is said, for a sceptical approach. In the aftermath of the election and the general distrust of the voters for such change, such caution seems to have paid off. |
| | | | Listen to the words |
| WORDS | | triggered: if something triggers speculation or some other process, it causes it to happen
motives: your motives for doing something are your reasons for doing it
overriding: more important than anything
abandon: to abandon something means to leave it permanently or for a long time
a sceptical approach: if you have a sceptical approach to doing something you do not really believe in doing it
aftermath: the aftermath of an important, usually harmful, event is the situation that results from it.
The election is presumably seen here as having been harmful to the main opposition party
paid off: if an action pays off, it is successful |
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| | | Read about the background in BBC News Online |
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