title: Taos Pueblo

text: Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States. This has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: Taos Pueblo is a member of the Eight Northern Pueblos. Natives will almost never speak of their religious customs to outsiders, and, because their language has never been written down, much of the culture remains unknown to the rest of the world. A tribal land of is attached to the pueblo, and about 4,500 people live in this area.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The pueblo was constructed in a setting backed by the Taos Mountains of the Sangre de Cristo Range. The settlement was built on either side of Rio Pueblo de Taos, also called Rio Pueblo and Red Willow Creek, a small stream that flows through the middle of the pueblo compound. Its headwaters come from Blue Lake, or Ba Whyea, in the nearby mountains.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: Taos Pueblo's most prominent architectural feature is a multi-storied residential complex of reddish-brown adobe, built on either side of the Rio Pueblo. The Pueblo's website states it was probably built between 1000 and 1450.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The pueblo was designated a National Historic Landmark on October 9, 1960. In 1992 it was designated as a UNESCO Heritage Site. about 150 people live in the historical pueblo full-time.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: In the Tanoan language of Taos (Northern Tiwa), the pueblo is referred to as "the village" in either "tə̂otho" "in the village" ("tə̂o-" "village" + "-tho" "in") or "tə̂obo" "to/toward the village" ("tə̂o-" "village" + "-bo" "to, toward"). The proper name of the pueblo is "ȉałopháymųp’ȍhə́othə̀olbo" "at red willow canyon mouth" (or "ȉałopháybo" "at the red willows" for short). This name is more commonly used in ceremonial contexts and is less common in everyday speech.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The name "Taos" in English was borrowed from Spanish "Taos". Spanish "Taos" is probably a borrowing of Taos "tə̂o-" "village" which was heard as "tao" to which the plural "-s" was added although in the modern language "Taos" is no longer a plural noun. The idea that the Spanish "Taos" is from "tao," "cross of the order of San Juan de los Caballeros" (from Greek "tau"), is unlikely.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: It is most likely that the Taos Indigenous people, along with other Pueblo Indigenous people, settled along the Rio Grande after migrating south from the Four Corners region. The dwellings of that region were inhabited by the Ancestral Puebloans. A long drought in the area in the late 13th century may have caused them to move to the Rio Grande, where the water supply was more dependable. However, their reason for migrating is still disputed and there is evidence that a violent struggle took place. Ultimately, archeological clues point to the idea that the Natives may have been forced to leave.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: Throughout its early years, Taos Pueblo was a central point of trade between the native populations along the Rio Grande and their Plains Tribes neighbors to the northeast. Taos Pueblo hosted a trade fair each fall after the agricultural harvest.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The first Spanish "conquistadors" ("conquerors") to Taos Pueblo arrived in 1540; they were members of the Francisco Vásquez de Coronado expedition, which stopped at many of New Mexico's pueblos in search of the rumored Seven Cities of Gold. Around 1620, Spanish Jesuits oversaw construction of the first Catholic Church in the pueblo, the mission of San Geronimo de Taos. Reports from the period indicate that the native people of Taos resisted the building of the church and forceful imposition of the Catholic religion. Throughout the 1600s, cultural tensions grew between the native populations of the Southwest and the increasing Spanish colonial presence. Taos Pueblo was no exception. By 1660, the native people killed the resident priest and destroyed the church. The Spanish replied brutally. Several years after it was rebuilt, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 began and once again the priest were killed and the church was burned a 2nd time. Several native tribes joined together to resist the Spaniards' ruthless and repeated attempts at removing the native culture and replacing it with the Catholic religion. The aftermath of the 1680 revolt was the Spanish retreating from northern and central New Mexico to El Paso in the south and stayed there for about 12 years.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: From the time after the Spanish returned to northern New Mexico in 1692 to about the early 1800s the people that lived in Taos and the surrounding areas such as the Spanish and the Taos Pueblo Natives were constantly raided by Comanches and Kiowa’s from the east which are plains tribes as well as other tribes. So the Spanish and Taos Pueblo Natives worked in ways to help each other to suppress these raids and other harsh conditions at the time.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: During the Mexican-American war of 1846 another revolt happened as the local Spanish and natives were upset about the United States taking over the area so the locals in Taos and the surrounding areas took up arms and staged several different battles which resulted in the locals being defeated by the United States Army and then resulted in innocent women and children being massacred inside the church at Taos Pueblo during the bombardment of cannon fire in which the United States Army thought the local militias that aided the revolt had retreated and been hiding.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The Pueblo's of mountain land was taken by President Theodore Roosevelt and designated as the Carson National Forest early in the 20th century. It was finally returned in 1970 by the United States when President Nixon signed Public Law 91-550. An additional south of the ridge between Simpson Peak and Old Mike Peak and west of Blue Lake were transferred back to the Pueblo in 1996.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: Blue Lake, which the people of the Pueblo consider sacred, was included in this return of Taos land. The Pueblo notably involved non-native people in lobbying the federal government for the return of Blue Lake, as they argued that their unrestricted access to the lake and the surrounding region was necessary to ensure their religious freedom. The Pueblo's web site names the reacquisition of the sacred Blue Lake as the most important event in its history due to the spiritual belief that the Taos people originated from the lake. It is believed that their ancestors live there, and the Pueblos themselves only ascend the mountain twice a year.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: At the time of the Spaniards' initial contact, Hernando de Alvarado described the pueblo as having adobe houses built very close together and stacked five or six stories high. The homes became narrower as they rose, with the roofs of each level providing the floors and terraces for those above.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The buildings at Taos originally had few windows and no standard doorways. Instead, access to rooms was through square holes in the roof that the people reached by climbing long, wooden ladders. Engelmann Spruce logs (or "vigas") supported roofs that had layers of branches, grass, mud, and plaster covering them. The architecture and the building materials were well suited for the rigors of the environment and the needs of the people in the Taos Valley.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The first Spanish-influenced architecture appeared in Taos Pueblo after Fray Francisco de Zamora came there in 1598 to establish a mission, under orders from Spanish Governor, Don Juan de Oñate.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The north-side Pueblo is said to be one of the most photographed and painted buildings in North America. It is the largest multistoried Pueblo structure still existing. It is made of adobe walls that are often several feet thick. Its primary purpose was for defense. Up to as late as 1900, access to the rooms on lower floors was by ladders on the outside to the roof, and then down an inside ladder. In case of an attack, outside ladders could easily be pulled up.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The homes in this structure usually consist of two rooms, one of which is for general living and sleeping, and the second of which is for cooking, eating, and storage. Each home is self-contained; there are no passageways between the houses. Taos Indians made little use of furniture in the past, but today they have tables, chairs, and beds. In the pueblo, electricity, running water, and indoor plumbing are prohibited.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: Two spiritual practices are represented in the Pueblo: the original indigenous spiritual and religious tradition and Roman Catholicism. The majority of Taos Indians practice their still-vital, ancient indigenous religion. Most (90%) members of the Taos Pueblo community are baptized as Roman Catholics. Saint Jerome, or San Geronimo, is the patron saint of the pueblo.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: Since Spanish colonization, the native Taos people have resisted cultural change and influence with European ideas. Many ethnographers observe a high level of "interconnectedness and mutual dependence" between the Taos Pueblo and their surrounding land, where they derive many of their cultural traditions. Consequently, a historical rivalry exists between the people on the South side of the river (summer people) and the North side (winter people). Foot races, which have significant religious meaning in the tribe, are a common way for these two groups to express their rivalry, and there is a long held tradition in their tribe that was possibly created before the pyramids. In addition, the Taos Pueblo attribute great value to Blue Lake in regards to their "living culture and agricultural sustainability."


title: Taos Pueblo

text: According to Wood, the Taos Pueblo people never turn strangers away from their doors because they value both courtesy and hospitality. However, on All Souls' Day, the Taos Pueblo spend a day with their families and close their village to any non-Indian. The Taos Pueblo approach death with an air of "stoicism," and they are only allowed to visit cemeteries on All Souls' Day or the day of someone's burial.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: In the cultural fabric of the Taos Pueblo, the ethnographic data suggests that women are considered to be subordinate to men. The Pueblo social structure is dictated by kiva memberships, and women are not allowed to take part in the rituals held in these sacred spaces because they "are not trained" to do so. Despite the exclusion of women from some spiritual activities, the women in the Taos Pueblo society "exercised a considerable degree of influence economically, politically, and interpersonally." For example, single women can run their own households, and married women control their own finances because they traditionally work as cooks or maids. Additionally, women have informal decision making power, using their abilities to influence the men around them.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: In 2011, the Taos Pueblo Preservation Program received a $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The fund aims to hire more workers, especially those who are trained in traditional construction techniques for conservation work, as well as workshop assistants who help pueblo homeowners with maintenance of traditional adobe homes. Supervisors teach trainees about traditional construction methods while rebuilding the majority of an 11-unit house which was in a state of near-collapse.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The first phase of the conservation of Taos Pueblo is the construction of the training center, restoration of 120–150 houses, training of the local people in the community, creation of a detailed assessment of the structure of the compound, and establishment of a cultural center and tribal archives. The second phase was financed by the World Monument Fund. It's listed on its watchlist because of its endangered nature, both culturally and structurally. By the end of the conservation efforts, twenty-one adobe houses are expected to be restored. The previous fund has also covered the cost of a laser scanning of the structures.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: The main characteristics of the conservation of Taos Pueblo aim to encourage a community-based approach. They include the training of local people to manage their own property, as well as the establishment of partnerships with government and non-government entities. The project resolves to preserve the traditional way of life in the community and sustain cultural traditions.


title: Taos Pueblo

text: In August of 2020, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a grant of $899,754 awarded to the Taos Pueblo Housing Authority to rehabilitate five housing units to help reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19. The grant will also be used to provide rental, food, and utility assistance.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Tony Blair's term as the prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 2 May 1997 when he accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding John Major of the Conservative Party, and ended on 27 June 2007 upon his resignation. While serving as prime minister, Blair also served as the first lord of the treasury, minister for the civil service and leader of the Labour Party.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: As prime minister, Blair used the term "New Labour" to distinguish his pro-market policies from the more socialist policies which the party had espoused in the past. Many of his policies reflected a centrist "Third Way" political philosophy. In domestic government policy, Blair significantly increased public spending on healthcare and education while also introducing controversial market-based reforms in these areas. In addition, Blair's tenure saw the introduction of a minimum wage, tuition fees for higher education, constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales and progress in the Northern Ireland peace process. The UK economy performed well and the real incomes of Britons grew 18% during 1997–2006. Blair kept to Conservative commitments not to increase income tax in the first term although rates of employee's National Insurance (a payroll levy) were increased. He also presided over a significant expansion of the welfare state during his time in office, which led to a significant reduction in relative poverty.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair's governments enacted constitutional reforms, removing most hereditary peers from the House of Lords, while also establishing the UK's Supreme Court and reforming the office of lord chancellor (thereby separating judicial powers from the legislative and executive branches). His government held referendums in which Scottish and Welsh electorates voted in favour of devolved administration, paving the way for the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly in 1999. He was also involved in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement. His time in office occurred during a period of continued economic growth, but this became increasingly dependent on mounting debt. In 1997, his government gave the Bank of England powers to set interest rates autonomously, and he later oversaw a large increase in public spending, especially in healthcare and education.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair championed multiculturalism and, between 1997 and 2007, immigration rose considerably, especially after his government welcomed immigration from the new EU member states in 2004. This provided a cheap and flexible labour supply but also fuelled Euroscepticism, especially among some of his party's core voters. His other social policies were generally progressive; he introduced the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and the Civil Partnership Act 2004. He declared himself tough on crime and oversaw increasing incarceration rates and new anti-social behaviour legislation, despite contradictory evidence about the change in crime rates. He was in office when the 7 July 2005 London bombings took place and introduced a range of anti-terror legislation.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair oversaw British interventions in Kosovo in 1999 and Sierra Leone in 2000, which were generally perceived as successful. In 2003, Blair supported George W. Bush after he ordered an invasion of Iraq, alleging alongside Bush that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Intense criticism came when neither WMD stockpiles nor evidence of an operational relationship with al-Qaeda were found. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued throughout the rest of Blair's premiership. In 2006, Blair announced that he would resign as prime minister and Labour leader within a year. He resigned on 27 June 2007 and was succeeded by Gordon Brown, who had been his chancellor of the Exchequer since 1997.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: At various points in his premiership, Blair was among both the most popular and unpopular prime ministers in UK history. He received the highest recorded approval ratings during his first few years in office, but also one of the lowest such ratings during the Iraq War. Blair had notable electoral successes and reforms, though his legacy remains controversial largely due to the Iraq War and his relationship with Bush.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Immediately after taking office, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown gave the Bank of England the power to set the UK base rate of interest autonomously, as agreed in 1992 in the Maastricht Treaty. This decision was popular with the British financial establishment in London, which the Labour Party had been courting since the early-1990s. Together with the Government's decision to remain within projected Conservative spending limits for its first two years in office, it helped to reassure sceptics of the Labour Party's fiscal "prudence". Associated changes moved regulation of banks away from the Bank of England to the Financial Services Authority- and these changes were unwound in 2013 following perceived failures by the FSA in the banking crisis.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The Blair ministry decided against joining the Eurozone, and adopting the euro as the currency to replace the pound sterling. This decision was generally supported by the British public, and by all political parties in the UK, as well as the media.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 24 June 1998, "The Sun" had famously put the front-page headline "Is THIS the most dangerous man in Britain?" beside a photograph of Blair, when it was still uncertain whether he would lead Britain into the Euro, or keep the sterling currency.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: In the early years of his first term, Blair relied on political advice from a close circle of his staff, among whom was his press secretary and official spokesman Alastair Campbell. Campbell was permitted to give orders to civil servants, who had previously taken instructions only from ministers. Unlike some of his predecessors, Campbell was a political appointee and had not come up through the Civil Service. Despite his overtly political role, he was paid from public funds as a civil servant. Also in Blair's team were a number of strong female aides, who acted as gatekeepers and go-betweens, including Anji Hunter, Kate Garvey, Ruth Turner and Sally Morgan.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: A significant achievement of Blair's first term was the signing, on 10 April 1998, of the Belfast Agreement, more commonly referred to as the "Good Friday Agreement". In the Good Friday Agreement, most Northern Irish political parties, together with the UK and Irish Governments, agreed upon an "exclusively peaceful and democratic" framework for the governance of Northern Ireland and a new set of political institutions for the province. In November 1998, Blair became the first UK Prime Minister to address Dáil Éireann.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair's first term saw an extensive programme of changes to the constitution. The Human Rights Act was introduced in 1998; a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly were established following referendums held with a majority voting in favour; most hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords in 1999; the Greater London Authority and the position of Mayor of London were established in 2000; and the Freedom of Information Act was passed later in the same year, with its provisions coming into effect over the following decade. This last Act disappointed campaigners, whose hopes had been raised by a 1997 White Paper which had promised more robust legislation. Blair later described the FoIA as one of his "biggest regrets", writing in his autobiography, "I quake at the imbecility of it." Whether the House of Lords should be fully appointed, fully elected, or be subject to a combination of the two remains a disputed question to the present day. 2003 saw a series of inconclusive votes on the subject in the House of Commons.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Significant change took place to legislation relating to rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people during Blair's period in office. During his first term, the age of consent for homosexuals was equalised at sixteen years of age (see Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000) and the ban on homosexuals in the armed forces was lifted. Subsequently, in 2005, a Civil Partnership Act came into effect, allowing gay couples to form legally recognised partnerships with the same rights as a traditional heterosexual marriage. At the end of September 2006, more than 30,000 Britons had entered into Civil Partnerships as a result of this law. Adoption by same-sex couples was legalised, and discrimination in the workplace (Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003), and in relation to the provision of goods and services (Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations) were both made illegal. Transgender people were given the right to change their birth certificate to reflect their new gender as a result of the Gender Recognition Act 2004.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Tony Blair's touch was less sure with regard to the Millennium Dome project. The incoming government greatly expanded the size of the project and consequently increased expectations of what would be delivered. Just before its opening, Blair claimed the Dome would be "a triumph of confidence over cynicism, boldness over blandness, excellence over mediocrity". In the words of BBC correspondent Robert Orchard, "the Dome was to be highlighted as a glittering New Labour achievement in the next election manifesto".


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: During his first term as Prime Minister, Blair raised taxes; introduced a National Minimum Wage and some new employment rights; introduced significant constitutional reforms; promoted new rights for gay people in the Civil Partnership Act 2004; and signed treaties integrating the UK more closely with the EU. He introduced substantial market-based reforms in the education and health sectors; introduced student tuition fees; sought to reduce certain categories of welfare payments, and introduced tough anti-terrorism and identity card legislation. Under Blair's government, the amount of new legislation increased which attracted criticism. Blair increased police powers by adding to the number of arrestable offences, compulsory DNA recording and the use of dispersal orders.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: According to one study, in terms of promoting social equality, the first Blair Government "turned out to be the most redistributive in decades; it ran Harold Wilson's 1960s' government close." From 1997 to 2005, for instance, all the benefits targeted on children through Tax Credits, Child Benefit and Income Support had gone up by 72% in real terms. Improvements were also made in financial support to pensioners, and by 2004, the poorest third of pensioners were £1,750 a year better off than under the system as it used to be. As a means of reducing energy costs and therefore the incidence of fuel poverty, a new programme of grants for cavity wall and loft insulation and for draught proofing was launched, with some 670,000 homes taking up the scheme. Various adjustments were also made in social welfare benefits. Families were allowed to earn a little more before Housing Benefit was cut, and the benefit was raised for families where the main earner worked part-time, while 2,000,000 pensioners were offered automatic help with their council tax bills, worth £400 each, although many did not take advantage of this benefit. According to one study, the Blair ministry's record on benefits, taken in the round, was "unprecedented", with 3.7% real terms growth each year from 2002 to 2005.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Under the years of the Blair ministry, expenditure on social services was increased, while various anti-poverty measures were introduced. From 2001 to 2005, public spending increased by an average of 4.8% in real terms, while spending on transport went up by 8.5% per annum, health by 8.2% per annum, and education by 5.4% per annum. Between 1997 and 2005, child poverty was more than halved in absolute terms as a result of measures such as the extension of maternity pay, increases in child benefit, and by the growth in the numbers of people in employment. During that same period, the number of pensioners living in poverty fell by over 75% in absolute terms as a result of initiatives such as the introduction of Winter Fuel Payments, the reduction of VAT on fuel, and the introduction of a Minimum Income Guarantee. To reduce poverty traps for those making the transition from welfare to work, a minimum wage was established, together with a Working Tax Credit and a Child Tax Credit. Together with various tax credit schemes to supplement low earnings, the Blair Government's policies significantly increased the earnings of the lowest income decile. In addition, under the Working Time Regulations of 1998, British workers gained a statutory entitlement to paid holidays.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Between 1997 and 2003, spending on early years education and childcare rose in real terms from £2.0 billion to £3.6 billion. During Blair's first term in office, 100 "Early Excellence" centres opened, together with new nurseries, while 500 Sure Start projects began. Although the number of children fell, the amount of state support to families with children increased, with money paid only to them (child contingent support) going up by 52% in real terms from 1999 to 2005. The Blair ministry also extended to three-year-olds the right to a free nursery place for half a day Monday to Friday. Tax credits assisted some 300,000 families (at January 2004) with childcare costs, while the 2004 budget exempted the first £50 of weekly payments to nannies and childminders from tax and National Insurance, restricted to couples earning not more than £43,000 per annum. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 extended a legal right to walk to about 3,200 square miles of open countryside, mainly in the North of England.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: During its first year in office, the Blair Government made the controversial decision of cutting Lone Parent Benefit, which led to abstentions amongst many Labour MPs. In March 1998, however, Brown responded in his Budget statement by increasing child benefit by £2.50 a week above the rate of inflation, the largest ever increase in the benefit. Public expenditure on education, health, and social security rose more rapidly under the Blair government than it did under previous Labour governments, the latter due to initiatives such as the introduction of the Working Families Tax Credit and increases in pensions and child benefits. During the Blair Government's time in office, incomes for the bottom 10% of earners increased as a result of transfers through the social security system.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: New rights for workers were introduced such as extended parental rights, a significant raising of the maximum compensation figure for unfair dismissal, a restoration of the qualifying period for protection against unfair dismissal to twelve months, and the right to be accompanied by a trade union official during a disciplinary or grievance hearing, whether or not a trade union is recognised. In addition, an Employee Relation Act was passed which introduced for the first time ever, the legal right of employees to trade union representation. In 2003, the Working Families Tax Credit was split into two benefits: a Working Tax Credit which was payable to all those in work, and a Child Tax Credit which was payable to all families with children, whether in work or not. During Blair's time in office, over 2,000,000 people had been lifted out of poverty.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: A proportional voting system was introduced for the election of Britain's MEPs, while legislation changing executive structures in local government was passed. Regional Development Agencies were set up in the 8 English regions outside London, and changes were made to the regulation of political parties and referendums, with the introduction of a new Electoral Commission and stricter spending rules. In addition, voting experiments resulted in an opening up of postal voting and reform of electoral registration, while the right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords was largely abolished after 700 years. In addition, the Water Industries Act 1999 ended the right of water companies to disconnect supplies "as a sanction against non-payment."


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The Employment Act 2002 extended rights to paternity, maternity, and adoption leave and pay, while the Police Reform Act 2002 established community support officers and reorganised national intelligence gathering. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 enabled unmarried couples to apply to adopt while speeding up adoption procedures, while the Private Hire Vehicles (Carriage of Guide Dogs) Act 2002 banned charges for guide dogs in minicabs. The International Development Act 2002 required spending to be used to reduce poverty and improve the welfare of the poor. The Travel Concessions (Eligibility) Act 2002 equalised the age at which men and women become entitled to travel concessions. Under the Homelessness Act 2002, councils had to adopt homelessness strategies and do more for those homeless through no fault of their own, and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 made it easier to convert long-term residential leasehold into freehold through "commonhold" tenures. The British Overseas Territories Act 2002 extended full British citizenship to 200,000 inhabitants of 14 British Overseas Territories, while the Office of Communications Act 2002 set up a new regulatory body known as the Office of Communications (Ofcom). The Enterprise Act 2002 included measures to safeguard consumers, while also reforming bankruptcy and establishing a stronger Office of Fair Trading.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Non-European immigration rose significantly during the period from 1997, not least because of the government's abolition of the primary purpose rule in June 1997. This change made it easier for UK residents to bring foreign spouses into the country.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The former government advisor Andrew Neather in the "Evening Standard" stated that the deliberate policy of ministers from late-2000 until early-2008 was to open up the UK to mass migration.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: In 1999, Blair planned and presided over the declaration of the Kosovo War. While in opposition, the Labour Party had criticised the Conservatives for their perceived weakness during the Bosnian war, and Blair was among those urging a strong line by NATO against Slobodan Milošević. Blair was criticised both by those on the left who opposed the war in principle and by some others who believed that the Serbs were fighting a legitimate war of self-defence. One month into the war, on 22 April 1999, Blair made a speech in Chicago setting out his "Doctrine of the International Community". This later became known by the media as the "Blair doctrine", and played a part in Blair's decision to order the British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War in May 2000.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Another significant change in 1997 was the creation of the Department for International Development, shifting global development policy away from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to an independent ministry with a Cabinet-level minister.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Also in 1999, Blair was awarded the Charlemagne Prize by the German city of Aachen for his contributions to the European ideal and to peace in Europe.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: In the 2001 general election campaign, Blair emphasised the theme of improving public services, notably the National Health Service and the State education system. The Conservatives concentrated on opposing British membership of the Euro, which did little to win over floating voters. The Labour Party retained its large parliamentary majority, and Blair became the first Labour Prime Minister to win a full second term. However, the election was notable for a large fall in voter turnout.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Following the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington DC, Blair was very quick to align the UK with the United States, engaging in a round of shuttle diplomacy to help form and maintain an international coalition prior to the 2001 war against Afghanistan. He maintains his diplomatic activity to this day, showing a willingness to visit countries that other world leaders might consider too dangerous to visit. In 2003, he became the first Briton since Winston Churchill to be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress for being "a staunch and steadfast ally of the United States of America", although media attention has been drawn to the fact that Blair has yet to attend the ceremony to receive his medal. In 2003, Blair was also awarded an Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his support of the United States after 9/11—the first non-American to receive the honour.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair gave strong support to US President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2003. He soon became the face of international support for the war, often clashing with French President Jacques Chirac, who became the face of international opposition. Widely regarded as a more persuasive speaker than Bush, Blair gave many speeches arguing for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in the days leading up to the invasion.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair's case for war was based on Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction and consequent violation of UN resolutions. He was wary of making direct appeals for regime change, since international law does not recognise this as a ground for war. A memorandum from a July 2002 meeting that was leaked in April 2005 showed that Blair believed that the British public would support regime change in the right political context; the document, however, stated that legal grounds for such action were weak. On 24 September 2002, the UK Government published a dossier based on the intelligence agencies' assessments of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Among the items in the dossier was a recently received intelligence report that "the Iraqi military are able to deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes of an order to do so". A further briefing paper on Iraq's alleged WMDs was issued to journalists in February 2003. This document was discovered to have taken a large part of its text without attribution from a PhD thesis available on the internet. Where the thesis hypothesised about possible WMDs, the Downing Street version presented the ideas as fact. The document subsequently became known as the "Dodgy Dossier".


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: 46,000 British troops, one-third of the total strength of the British Army (land forces), were deployed to assist with the invasion of Iraq. When after the war, no Weapons of Mass Destruction were found in Iraq, the two dossiers, together with Blair's other pre-war statements, became an issue of considerable controversy. Many Labour Party members, including a number who had supported the war, were among the critics. Successive independent inquiries (including those by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons, the senior judge Lord Hutton, and the former senior civil servant Lord Butler of Brockwell) have found that Blair honestly stated what he believed to be true at the time, though Lord Butler's report did imply that the Government's presentation of the intelligence evidence had been subject to some degree of exaggeration. These findings have not prevented frequent accusations that Blair was deliberately deceitful, and, during the 2005 election campaign, Conservative leader Michael Howard made political capital out of the issue.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Then Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, stated in September 2004 that the invasion was "illegal", but did not state the legal basis for this assertion. Prior to the war, the UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, who acts as the Government's legal advisor, had advised Blair that the war was legal.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: British Armed Forces were active in southern Iraq to stabilise the country in the run-up to the Iraqi elections of January 2005. In October 2004, the UK government agreed to a request from US forces to send a battalion of the Black Watch regiment to the American sector to free up US troops for an assault on Fallujah. The subsequent deployment of the Black Watch was criticised by some in Britain on the grounds that its alleged ultimate purpose was to assist George Bush's re-election in the 2004 US presidential election. As of September 2006, 7,500 British forces remain in Southern Iraq, around the city of Basra. After the presidential election, Blair tried to use his relationship with President Bush to persuade the US to devote efforts to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: In an interview with David Frost on Al Jazeera in November 2006, Blair appeared to agree with Frost's assessment that the war had been "pretty much of a disaster", although a Downing Street spokesperson denied that this was an accurate reflection of Blair's view.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: After fighting the 2001 general election on the theme of improving public services, Blair's government raised taxes in 2002 (described by the Conservatives as "stealth taxes") to increase spending on education and health. Blair insisted the increased funding would have to be matched by internal reforms. The government introduced the Foundation Hospitals scheme to allow NHS hospitals financial autonomy, although the eventual shape of the proposals, after an internal Labour Party struggle with Gordon Brown, allowed for less freedom than Blair had wished. By increasing funding, capacity and redesigning incentives, maximum waits for NHS planned operations fell from 18 months to 18 weeks, and public satisfaction with the NHS almost doubled.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The peace process in Northern Ireland hit a series of problems. In October 2002, the Northern Ireland Assembly established under the Good Friday Agreement was suspended. Attempts to persuade the IRA to decommission its weapons were unsuccessful, and, in the second set of elections to the Assembly in November 2003, the staunchly unionist Democratic Unionist Party replaced the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party as Northern Ireland's largest unionist party, making a return to devolved government more difficult. At the same time, Sinn Féin replaced the more moderate SDLP as the province's largest nationalist party.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 3 August 2003, Blair became the longest continuously-serving Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, surpassing Clement Attlee's six-year term from 1945 to 1951. On 5 February 2005, Blair became the longest serving Labour Prime Minister in British history, surpassing the near eight-year total Harold Wilson served over his two terms in office.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The Hutton Inquiry into the death of Dr. David Kelly reported on 2 August, ruled that he had committed suicide, and despite widespread expectations that the report would criticise Blair and his government, Hutton cleared the Government of deliberately inserting false intelligence into the September Dossier, while criticising the BBC editorial process which had allowed unfounded allegations to be broadcast. Evidence to the inquiry raised further questions over the use of intelligence in the run-up to the war, and the report did not satisfy opponents of Blair and of the war. After a similar decision by President Bush, Blair set up another inquiry—the Butler Review—into the accuracy and presentation of the intelligence relating to Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Opponents of the war, especially the Liberal Democrats, refused to participate in this inquiry, since it did not meet their demands for a full public inquiry into whether the war was justified .


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The political fallout from the Iraq War continued to dog Blair's premiership after the Butler Review. On 25 August 2004, Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price announced he would attempt to impeach Blair, hoping to invoke a Parliamentary procedure that has lain dormant for 150 years but has never been abolished. However, of 640 MPs in the House of Commons only 23 backed the Commons motion—officially known as an Early day motion—in support of considering "whether there exist sufficient grounds to impeach" Blair (a 24th MP signed the motion but later withdrew his name). The Early Day Motion has now expired.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: In April 2004, Blair announced that a referendum would be held on the ratification of the EU Constitution. This represented a significant development in British politics: only one nationwide referendum had previously been held (in 1975, on whether the UK should remain in the EEC), though a referendum had been promised if the Government decided to join the Euro, and referendums had been held on devolved structures of government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It was a dramatic change of policy for Blair, who had previously dismissed calls for a referendum unless the constitution fundamentally altered the UK's relationship with the EU. Michael Howard seized upon this "EU-turn", reminding Blair of his declaration to the 2003 Labour Party conference that "I can only go one way. I haven't got a reverse gear". The referendum was expected to be held in early 2006; however, after the French and Dutch rejections of the constitution, the Blair government announced it was suspending plans for a referendum for the foreseeable future.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: During his second term, Blair was increasingly the target for protests. His speech to the 2004 Labour Party conference, for example, was interrupted both by a protester against the Iraq War and by a group that opposed the government's decision to allow the House of Commons to ban fox hunting.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 15 September 2004, Blair delivered a speech on the environment and the 'urgent issue' of climate change. In unusually direct language he concluded that "If what the science tells us about climate change is correct, then unabated it will result in catastrophic consequences for our world ... The science, almost certainly, is correct." The action he proposed to take appeared to be based on business and investment rather than legislative or tax-based attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions: "it is possible to combine reducing emissions with economic growth ... investment in science and technology and in the businesses associated with it".


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 19 October 2003, it emerged Blair had received treatment for an irregular heartbeat. Having felt ill the previous day, he went to hospital and was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia. This was treated by cardioversion and he returned home that night. He was reported to have taken the following day (20 October) more gently than usual and returned to a full schedule on 21 October. Downing Street aides later suggested the palpitations had been brought on by drinking lots of strong coffee at an EU summit and then working-out vigorously in the gym. However, former minister Lewis Moonie, a doctor, said the treatment was more serious than Number 10 had admitted: "Anaesthetising somebody and giving their heart electric shocks is not something you just do in the routine run of medical practice."


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: In September 2004, in off-the-cuff remarks during an interview with ITV News, Lord Bragg said Blair was "under colossal strain" over "considerations of his family" and that Blair had thought "things over very carefully." This led to speculation Blair would resign. Although details of a family problem were known by the press, no paper reported them because according to one journalist, to have done so would have breached "the bounds of privacy and media responsibility."


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair underwent a catheter ablation to correct his irregular heartbeat on 1 October 2004, after announcing the procedure on the previous day, in a series of interviews in which he also declared he would seek a third term as Prime Minister, but not a fourth. The planned procedure was carried out at London's Hammersmith Hospital.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The Labour Party won the 2005 general election held on Thursday 5 May and a third consecutive term in office, for the first time ever. However, Labour won fewer votes in England than the Conservatives. The next day, Blair was invited to form a government by Queen Elizabeth II. The reduction in the Labour Party's majority (from 167 to 66 seats) and the low share of the popular vote (35%) led to some Labour MPs calling for Blair to leave office sooner rather than later; among them was Frank Dobson, who had served in Blair's cabinet during his first term. However, dissenting voices quickly vanished as Blair took on European leaders over the future direction of the European Union in June 2005. This election also marks the most recent victory by the Labour Party.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The rejection by France and the Netherlands of the treaty to establish a constitution for the European Union presented Blair with an opportunity to postpone a UK referendum and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced that the Parliamentary Bill to enact a referendum was suspended indefinitely. It had previously been agreed that ratification would continue unless the treaty had been rejected by at least five of the 25 European Union member states who must all ratify it. In an address to the European Parliament, Blair stated: "I believe in Europe as a political project. I believe in Europe with a strong and caring social dimension."


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Jacques Chirac held several meetings with Schröder and the pair pressed for the UK to give up the rebate won by Margaret Thatcher in 1984. After verbal conflict over several weeks, Blair, along with the leaders of all 25 EU member states, descended on Brussels for the EU Summit of 18 June 2005 to attempt to finalise the EU budget for 2007–13. Blair refused to renegotiate the rebate unless the proposals included a compensating overhaul of EU spending, particularly on the Common Agricultural Policy which composes 44% of the EU budget. The CAP stayed as it was agreed upon in 2002 and no decision about the budget was reached under the Luxembourg presidency.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 6 July 2005, during the 117th International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Singapore, the IOC announced that the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Games of the XXX Olympiad, were awarded to London over Paris by only four votes. The competition between Paris and London to host the Games had become increasingly heated particularly after French President Jacques Chirac commented three days before the vote that "one cannot trust people [ie: the British] whose cuisine are so bad." The surprise win by London over the perceived frontrunner Paris was said to have been decided by the presence of Blair at the IOC session. Irish IOC member Patrick Hickey said, "This is down to Tony Blair. If he hadn't come here I'd say that six to eight votes would have been lost and London would not be sitting here today winners".


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On Thursday 7 July 2005, a series of four bomb explosions struck London's public transport system during the morning rush-hour. All four incidents were suicide bombings. Fifty-six people were killed and 700 people were injured. The incident was the deadliest single act of terrorism in the United Kingdom since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland which killed 270 people and replaced the 1998 Omagh bombing (29 dead) as the second-most deadly terrorist attack on British soil. It was also the deadliest bombing in London since World War II.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair made about the day's bombings, saying that he believed it was "reasonably clear" that it was an act of terror, and that he hoped the people of Britain could demonstrate that their will to overcome the events is greater than the terrorists' wish to cause destruction. He also said that his determination to "defend" the British way of life outweighed "extremist determination" to destroy it . On 13 July 2005, he told that international co-operation would be needed to "pull up this evil ideology by its roots".


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 21 July 2005, a second series of explosions were reported in London, two weeks and some hours after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Four controlled explosions, of devices considerably less advanced than those of the previous attacks, were carried out at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval underground stations, and on a bus in Shoreditch. Even though the attacks on 21 July were less severe than those two weeks earlier, Blair was reported to have said that the bombings in London today were intended "to scare people and to frighten them, to make them anxious and worried". He went on to say how the "police have done their very best, and the security services too, in the situation, and I think we have just got to react calmly and continue with our business as much as possible normal".


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Concerns about terror attacks led to 10 Downing Street requesting media organisations not to identify the location of Blair's 2005 summer holiday. After Blair attended a public function it was acknowledged that the holiday was in Barbados, as a guest of the singer Cliff Richard with whom Blair had stayed with before. During a renewed stay there in August 2006, Blair refused to endorse calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: A "Guardian"/ICM poll conducted after the first wave of attacks found that 64% of the British population believed that Blair's decision to wage war in Iraq had led indirectly to the terrorist attacks on London. The public did however indicate approval of Blair's handling of the attacks, with his approval rating moving into positive territory for the first time in five years. In December 2005, Blair was presented with the "Statesman of the Decade" award by the EastWest Institute, a trans-Atlantic think tank that organises an annual Security Conference in Brussels.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Proposed laws to cope with the threat of terrorism proved extremely controversial; an amendment to require that glorifying terrorism be deliberate to be an offence was rejected in the House of Commons by just three votes (a result initially announced as a one-vote margin, due to a miscount). The proposal to allow terrorist suspects to be held for questioning for up to 90 days was defeated on 9 November by a margin of 31 with 49 Labour MPs voting against the government. Instead, MPs supported an amendment to allow questioning for 28 days proposed by veteran backbencher David Winnick. This was Blair's first defeat on the floor of the House of Commons since he became Prime Minister in 1997, and most commentators saw this as seriously undermining his authority.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The introduction of further reforms to the education system, which restricted the involvement of local education authorities in opening new schools, proved controversial. Labour backbenchers opposed to the proposals produced a rival manifesto, and the Bill to introduce the changes was delayed while the government negotiated with them. The Conservative Party declared its support for the reforms, making passage certain but increasing the likelihood that Labour MPs would vote against them. On 15 March 2006, the Education and Inspections Bill passed its second reading, with 52 Labour MPs voting against; had the Conservative Party also voted against it would have been defeated.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The local elections in England on 4 May 2006 dealt a blow to Blair, with the loss of 317 seats and 18 councils. This result was thought to be partly continued fallout from public dissatisfaction over the decision to invade Iraq, and partly due to a scandal concerning the Home Office's mishandling of the deportation of foreign criminals. At the same time, an affair of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott with his diary secretary had been made public. Further, some Primary care and Hospital Trust sustained significant deficits and had to release staff, which called into question the position of Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt. On 5 May, Blair reshuffled his Cabinet. Most significantly, Home Secretary Charles Clarke and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw were relieved of their duties and many other positions were reassigned.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair urged EU member states on 20 October 2006 to send a strong message to the Sudanese government that it must allow a UN force into Darfur, arguing that it is a critical time for Darfur and therefore a chance for the EU to strengthen the pressure on the Sudanese government.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: A debate over Muslim women wearing veils developed after Leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw said he asked women in his constituency to remove them when they visited him. Blair believed that this was a "mark of separation" and made some "outside the community feel uncomfortable". He also backed Kirklees Council, which suspended a classroom assistant Aishah Azmi for refusing to remove her full-face veil at school.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair was interviewed in connection with the "Cash-for-Honours" investigation by the police in December 2006, the first time that a serving Prime Minister has been questioned by police regarding a criminal investigation. He was interviewed for a second time on 26 January 2007 after the arrest of Downing Street official Ruth Turner. An embargo was placed on this news at the request of the Metropolitan Police until 1 February.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: After the 2004 Labour Party conference, on 30 September 2004, Blair announced in a BBC interview that he would serve a "full third term" but would not contest a fourth general election. No term limits exist in British politics, and such an announcement was historically unprecedented. Blair said he would give "ample time" for his successor to establish himself before the next general election, likely to be held in 2009 or 2010.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Following the 2005 general election, in which Labour was re-elected but with a significantly reduced majority, there was constant speculation over the date of Blair's departure from office. At Westminster, he was expected to retire after the proposed UK referendum on a European Union Constitution, but the constitution being thwarted at referendums in other countries negated any need for one in the UK (such a major issue as a union-wide constitution would require unanimity amongst the EU's member states). The 7/7 terror attacks also reduced the likelihood of an early departure. Speculation as to the likely timing of Blair's departure increased in May 2006, following Labour's poor results at the English local elections.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: It was reported on 30 July 2006 that Blair had agreed to a £4,000,000 deal, in exchange for his personal diaries, with a publishing firm owned by Rupert Murdoch.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 5 September 2006, a letter signed by 17 Labour MPs called for Blair to resign. On the same day, 49 other Labour MPs signed a statement supporting Blair's departure timetable. The next day "The Sun" reported that Blair would step down as Leader of the Labour Party on 31 May 2007, and as Prime Minister when a new leader is elected. That same day, seven of the MPs who signed the letter resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretaries (unpaid and unofficial posts assisting Government ministers).


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 7 September 2006, Blair announced that the 2006 Labour Party conference would be his last as leader (in other words, he planned to resign by September 2007). He did not announce a specific timetable for either his departure or the election of a new leader, but he did state that he would "set a precise date" at some point in the future. On 26 September 2006, he restated this at Labour's annual conference "this is my last conference as leader".


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 24 November 2006, Tony Blair addressed the Scottish Labour Party conference as Labour Party leader and Prime Minister for the last time.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: His successor was widely expected to be Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who launched his leadership bid on 11 May 2007. The only other politician to formally declare himself a contender for the Labour leadership following Blair's departure was the left-wing Labour MP John McDonnell, who launched his campaign on 14 July 2006. To stand in the leadership contest, candidates required the nominations of 12.5% of sitting Labour MPs—then 44 MPs.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 2 May 2007, on the tenth anniversary of the 1997 general election, Tony Blair announced that he would be stepping down as Prime Minister in a matter of weeks. He further encouraged Gordon Brown as his successor as Leader of the Labour Party. On 3 May, it was further clarified by Downing Street that the exact date of resignation would be announced on 10 May. The following election of a new leader of the Labour Party was expected to take 48 days.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: On 10 May 2007, Blair held a Cabinet meeting where he told his ministers about his resignation plans and later making a speech at the Trimdon Labour Club in his Sedgefield constituency before announcing at a press conference that he would step down as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007 and that he would be asking the NEC to begin seeking a successor as Labour leader immediately. His deputy, John Prescott, announced that he was also stepping down as Deputy Prime Minister later in the day at his local meeting in Hull. Blair began a world tour with a visit to Paris on 11 May 2007 to visit newly elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy. His last two major events were the 33rd G8 summit in Heiligendamm and the European Council summit from 21 to 22 June 2007.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Gordon Brown was duly elected Labour leader as the only successfully nominated candidate with 313 nominations compared to John McDonnell's 29 at close of nominations on 17 May 2007, the result being declared formally and coming into effect on 24 June 2007 with Tony Blair resigning as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007 and Gordon Brown being asked to form a government by The Queen later that day.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Blair stepped down as an MP immediately triggering a by-election in Sedgefield. He declined the traditional seat in the House of Lords offered to former Prime Ministers, commenting that it was "not my scene".


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Tony Blair's style of leadership was seen as ‘presidential’ by various political commentators and authors. In 1997, Dan Balz of "Washington Post" narrated his take on Blair's leadership:


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: "Tony Blair has adopted many persons as Britain’s leader: political reformer, griever in chief, general host of Friday night town meetings, relentless enforcer of a disciplined message. Both as a candidate and as Prime Minister, Blair has embraced a presidential style of leadership geared for the age of television and the era of declining faith of political parties".


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Tony Blair's presidential style of leadership was also the subject of study of Michael Foley's book "The British Presidency: Tony Blair and the Politics of Public Leadership". Foley uses Blair's premiership as a case study to further the ‘presidentialisation thesis’, which is a model used to study the growing power of the British Prime Minister at the behest of the Cabinet, and the Parliament. According to Foley, centralisation of power under Blair, and his broader conduct in office points to the cementing of presidential tendencies in British politics. He writes:


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: “The British Prime Minister has evolved, and is evolving away from what a Prime Minister used to do and used to be… Blair’s premiership represents another part of the clinching proof that British politics has accommodated and adjusted to a distinctive presidential dimension”.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Thomas Poguntke and Paul Webb also studied the presidentialisation of the British government, and have mentioned the various aspects of Blair's premiership, that as whole, point to his presidential nature. These included:


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Collectively, Blair's premiership has been informally referred to by many academics and political opponents as a "sofa government", as Blair was reliant on his advisors and close colleagues for decision making, rather than the Cabinet. This depiction of Blair has been endorsed by various of Blair's own party member and ministers, including, Graham Allen, Mo Mowlam and Claire Short. The Butler Review of 2004 also criticised Blair's style of sofa government.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: The nature of cabinet meetings reflects this movement to "sofa government" as well with cabinet meetings tending to last no longer than 30 to 45 minutes changing the role of cabinet to discuss new policy to introduce to simply approving what Blair had discussed previously with his advisors.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Various authors and writers have criticised the application of the presidentialisation thesis on the premiership of Tony Blair and have instead defended Blair. They have termed the use of presidential analogies for Blair as an unfair comparison between two systems that are fundamentally different. According to Richard Heffernan, for example, British Prime Ministers, including Blair, have dispensed their duties in a parliamentary model of governance, which is essentially very different from presidential models, which are largely based on the principle of separation of powers. In this context, Blair had four defeats in the Parliament, including an amendment that would have allowed the conditional detention of terrorism suspects.


title: Premiership of Tony Blair

text: Political commentators have also pointed to the constant tussle between the Chancellor Gordon Brown and Tony Blair as evidence that the Prime Minister was not all too powerful. This, according to them, demonstrates that the Cabinet was still an effective arena for political dialogue.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for many centuries, the private hunting ground of Windsor Castle and dates primarily from the mid-13th century. Historically the park covered an area many times the current size known as Windsor Forest, Windsor Royal Park or its current name. The only royal park not managed by The Royal Parks, the park is managed and funded by the Crown Estate. Most parts of the park are open to the public, free of charge, from dawn to dusk, although there is a charge to enter Savill Garden.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Except for a brief period of privatisation by Oliver Cromwell to pay for the English Civil War, the area remained the personal property of the monarch until the reign of George III when control over all Crown lands was handed over to Parliament. The Park is owned and administered by the Crown Estate, a public body established by Act of Parliament in which the monarch and family members associated with its particular parts have non-executive, advisory roles. The Grade I listed park is on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Windsor Forest and Great Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The Great Park is a gently undulating area of varied landscape. It has sweeping deer lawns, small woods, coverts and areas covered by huge solitary ancient oak trees. There is a small river in the north of the park called the Battle Bourne running to the Thames near Datchet. The River Bourne runs through a number of ponds to the south. Chief amongst these are Great Meadow Pond and Obelisk Pond, near the great lake of Virginia Water. The most prominent hill is Snow Hill and the avenue of trees known as the "Long Walk" runs between here and Windsor Castle. The area is accessed by a number of gates: Queen Anne's Gate, Ranger's Gate, Cranbourne Gate, Forest Gate, Sandpit Gate, Prince Consort's Gate, Blacknest Gate, Bishop's Gate and Bear's Rails Gate and the original medieval park pale can still be seen in places. The main road known as Sheet Street (A332) into Windsor runs through the northeast of the park. On the western side of the park is The Village, built in the 1930s to house Royal estate workers. It has a village shop and infant/junior school. Other buildings include the Royal Lodge, Cumberland Lodge, the Cranbourne Tower and Norfolk Farm. The park lies mostly within the civil parish of Old Windsor, though the eastern regions are in the Borough of Runnymede and there are small areas in the parishes of Winkfield and Sunninghill. Areas associated with or attached to the Great Park, but not officially within its borders include the Home Park, Mote Park, Flemish Farm, Cranbourne Chase, Forest Lodge and South Forest.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Windsor Castle was begun in the 11th century by William the Conqueror as it afforded a good defensive point over the River Thames. A vast area of Windsor Forest to the south of the castle became reserved by the King for personal hunting and also to supply the castle with wood, deer, boar and fish. It was not until later that it became necessary to formally define this area. In 1129, the first "parker" was appointed, and in 1240, King Henry III officially set out the borders of the "Park", a region many times larger than the current Great Park. The castle was a mere fortress at this time and, when hunting, King Henry would have been resident at the more comfortable manor house of Old Windsor (what later became known as Manor Lodge). The title "Parker" exists today as "Ranger of the Park", the current title-holder being Charles III. Kings Edward I and Edward III used the park for jousts and tournaments and the latter had his Royal stud there to supply horses for the Hundred Years' War. The moat at Bear's Rails contained the manor house of Wychamere, the home of William of Wykeham while he was building the castle. It was later used for bear-baiting.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: By the 18th century, the food value of the parkland to Windsor had decreased in importance and the new Hanoverian monarchs preferred to build on and garden the land rather than hunt in it. The Long Walk had been laid out by King Charles II and the planting of its trees completed by William of Orange in the 1680s, with double rows of elms which lasted until World War II, but the Georges extended it and built numerous features and monuments, such as the Copper Horse (depicting George III) and the Obelisk (in honour of William, Duke of Cumberland). George III had a set of 2,000-year-old Roman ruins imported from Libya and placed in the park.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Virginia Water was begun in 1746 by William, Duke of Cumberland who was then Ranger of the Park. Few details are recorded of the building of the lake; however it has been suggested that prisoners of war from the recent Jacobite risings, who were encamped at the nearby Breakheart hill, were involved. The original lake was much smaller than the current form, and was destroyed in a flood in 1768. In 1780, Paul and Thomas Sandby began construction of a much larger lake at the site, and went on to add an artificial waterfall, Meadow Pond and Obelisk Pond. The lake replaced a small stream of the same name which was probably named after Queen Elizabeth I, who was known as the "Virgin Queen".


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Queen Victoria created the park that still exists. The Windsor Castle Act 1848 was implemented to reform land use and rights around Windsor Castle. This led to the removal of existing roads and the creation of new ones to redirect people away Home Park. The changes were the result of the death of Prince Albert, when Queen Victoria largely withdrew from public life. At Frogmore she built a Royal Mausoleum for Albert. She was later buried there upon her own death, along with a number of other subsequent members of the royal family.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: During the 19th and early 20th century, one of the main events for farmers near and far was the Christmas sale of stock from the Royal Windsor Estates. Held on the same week as the Smithfield Show, buyers came from all over the country to buy something from the monarch. The sale in 1850 was held on 17 December by Messrs Buckland & Sons of Windsor. It included Superior Fat Heifers for £20 each; 10 fat ewes, fed by Prince Albert, for 33/10; Fine Old Wether Sheep, fed by His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, for 40/6. The sale made a total of £226. On 12 December 1894, Messrs Buckland & Sons were proud to announce:


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The Smith's Lawn area of the Park began to be used for flying in the 1920s, an activity which continued in various forms until the early 1950s. Improvements were made to the grass landing area in the mid 1930s, when it was used by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII). He operated several different types of aircraft from here, including several types of de Havilland airplanes, ranging from Moths to Dragon Rapides.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: On 29 April 1931, Gordon Olley landed a large (for the time) twin-engine Imperial Airways airliner, the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy ("City of Glasgow"), at Smith's Lawn.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: In 2016, the Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a memorial at Smith's Lawn to its use as an airfield. He himself had made his first solo flight from there in 1952, after regular use of the site as an airfield had ceased.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: During the war, aviation related activities included a factory dispersal site (to minimize the risk of Luftwaffe bombing) for Vickers-Armstrongs, who built and maintained Wellington bombers here. Other wartime aviation activities included use as a Relief Landing Ground for de Havilland Tiger Moth trainers at nearby No. 18 Elementary Flying Training School at Fairoaks.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The "Smith's Lawn" area of the Park was also used for housing troops. During the 1940s, much of the deer park was ploughed and farmed for food, which involved the felling of hundreds of ancient trees. Over 200 large bombs fell on the land, including several V-2 rockets. During the 1948 Summer Olympics, the park was used as the road cycling venue. In the 1950s, the Park was gradually turned into the recreation area open to the public that it is today. This involved the re-planting of Savill Gardens (which had been allowed to run wild during the war) and the new Valley Gardens. In 1951, a large wall for creeping plants was built at Savill using bricks from bombed-out London buildings. In 1958, a Totem pole was installed nearby, a gift from British Columbia to the Queen.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: In 1972 the Irish anarchist Ubi Dwyer organised the "People's Free Festival", the first of the Windsor Free Festivals in the Park, attended by 700 people. A co-organiser Sid Rawle claimed that Windsor Great Park has been common land until the 18th century, and illegally inclosed (made private) by George III. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was reported to be "furious". Ubi and his allies repeated the festival in 1973 with at least 1,400 in attendance. In 1973, the Windsor Great Park regulations were introduced. In 1974, 7,000 people turned up but it was violently broken up by police, who made 220 arrests and the festival was banned. Dwyer was jailed the next year for distributing leaflets to promote another festival and Rawle was given three months for reproducing parts of Ubi's leaflets in the underground newspaper "International Times".


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The modern enclosed deer park is at the northern end of the Great Park. It is home to a large herd of semi-wild red deer, reflecting the original medieval purpose of the park.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The tree-lined avenue known as The Long Walk was originally a path from Windsor Castle to Snow Hill. The high ground is said to have been the location where Henry VIII waited to hear the news that his second wife, Anne Boleyn, had been executed. Following the Restoration in 1660, Charles II had double rows of Elm trees planted along the entire length of the path. The king was inspired to develop Windsor Castle and the surrounding parkland after he lived at the Palace of Versailles during his exile from Britain when it was the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. The creation of The Long Walk was one of his first improvement plans.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: In 1710 Queen Anne had the path through the centre of the trees replaced by a road so coaches could use the route to enter and leave Windsor Castle.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The Long Walk runs south from Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse statue of King George III atop Snow Hill. The cast statue, which was erected 1829, is from the George IV Gateway at Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse. Other equestrian statues in the park include one of the Prince Consort, to the west of the polo grounds, and one of Queen Elizabeth II near the Village.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The Royal Lodge was built in the centre of the park as the Deputy Ranger's house. It was made into a retreat for the Prince Regent from 1812, but was largely pulled down after his death. The remains were renovated, in the 1930s, as a home for the Duke and Duchess of York before their accession as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. It is now the official residence of Prince Andrew, Duke of York and not accessible by the public.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The Royal Chapel of All Saints was built after the chapels of the Royal and Cumberland Lodges proved too small for growing numbers of household staff. The chapel was built in 1825 by Jeffry Wyattville and regularly used by George IV during the refurbishment of Windsor Castle. It was later remodelled in the Gothic Revival style by Samuel Sanders Teulon and Anthony Salvin. Queen Victoria often attended the chapel as did the Duke and Duchess of York before their accession as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. It was regularly used by Queen Elizabeth II when she was in residence at Windsor.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Other notable buildings in the park include Cumberland Lodge, built in 1652 during the Commonwealth. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 the Lodge quickly became the home of the Ranger of the Great Park, an office in the gift of the sovereign. Each Ranger made his – or in one case, that of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, her – own mark on the features of the house and its surroundings.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Throughout her life Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor. Her daughter Princess Helena of the United Kingdom lived at the Lodge for over fifty years, presiding over elaborate re-building after a major fire in 1869 and extensive alterations in 1912. Lord FitzAlan, last British Viceroy of Ireland, was the last private person to be entrusted with the Lodge. It was in his time, in 1936, that the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, discussed the crisis over King Edward VIII's desire to marry Wallis Simpson, talks which led to his abdication of the crown a few weeks later. In 1947, the King made the Lodge available to the newly established St. Catharine's Foundation, later known as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Foundation of St Catharine's. Today the organisation is simply known as Cumberland Lodge. Cumberland Lodge today is an educational charity dedicated to initiating fresh debate on questions facing society. The grounds are not generally open to the public, but the house is continually holding conferences, open days and lectures.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The private Cranbourne Tower is easily viewed from surrounding paths. It is all that survives of Cranbourne Lodge, the residence of the Keeper of Cranbourne Chase. It is thought to date back to the 16th century.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: In the south-east of the park, near Englefield Green, are the Savill Garden Garden and Valley Gardens which were designed and built by Eric Savill in the 1930s and 1940s. They include an extraordinary range of flowers and trees from around the world. Smith's Lawn and Polo Grounds are also nearby, as is the tranquil Heather Garden. The Savill Garden Visitor Centre houses a gift shop; toilets; restaurant; coffee shop; ice cream counter; and a shop selling many plants found in the garden. The gardens are open to visitors between 10:00 and 16:30 in the winter and 10:00 and 18:00 in the summer.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Virginia Water Lake, in the south of the park, is an artificially-created lake of around dating from the 1740s. Among the lakeside features are the high Canadian totem pole, carved by Mungo Martin, Henry Hunt, and Tony Hunt Sr., commemorating the centenary of British Columbia, and a collection of ornamental Roman ruins, transported from the site of Leptis Magna (modern-day Al-Khums) in 1816 and installed at Virginia Water in 1826.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Beside a smaller lake, known as the Obelisk Pond, is the Obelisk memorial to the Duke of Cumberland. This is inscribed


title: Windsor Great Park

text: It was originally inscribed "Culloden" but this was erased on Queen Victoria's orders and replaced with "Cumberland", inscribed within an inset in the masonry.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: A new visitor centre designed by Glenn Howells Architects and Buro Happold was opened in June 2006, and was nominated for the 2007 Stirling Prize.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Park access via Rangers Gate is strictly for authorised vehicles only. There are several other road, horse and foot entrances. Access to some of the private areas of the Great Park is available, on application, for an annual key rental fee. Access to the park is governed by Windsor Great Park Regulations 1973.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: Every five or six years since 1993 Windsor Great Park has been home to the Scout and Girlguiding camp WINGS (Windsor International Guides and Scouts camp), last held in August 2014.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: At the 15th World Conference of WAGGGS it was decided to mark the centenary of the birth of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Guiding, by holding a World Camp with four locations — Doe Lake, Ontario, Canada; Quezon City, Philippines; Lac de Conche, Switzerland; and Windsor Great Park, from 19 January to 2 February 1957.


title: Windsor Great Park

text: The Crown Estate has allowed the use of Windsor Great Park as a filming location. The park was used in the production of the following:


title: Star Air (India)

text: Ghodawat Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. doing business as Star Air, is an Indian commuter airline based at Kempegowda International Airport in Bangalore, Karnataka. It started operations in January 2019, offering flights within Karnataka state as well as to neighboring Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, as part of the Central Government's UDAN scheme. The airline makes use of Embraer 145 LRs for its services.


title: Star Air (India)

text: Sanjay Ghodawat Group, the parent company of Star Air, sought permission from the Central Government in March 2017 to establish a scheduled passenger airline called Star Air. The airline acquired its first aircraft, an Embraer 145LR, in June 2018. It obtained its Air Operator's Certificate in early January of the following year and announced that it would operate flights under the Central Government's UDAN scheme, which aims to improve regional connectivity within India. Kempegowda International Airport in Bangalore was selected as the base of operations. On 25 January 2019, the airline's first flight departed Bangalore for Hubbali. Flights to Tirupati were initiated as well.


title: Star Air (India)

text: The head office is at Star Air, Plot 13A, KIADB Hi-Tech Defence and Aerospace Park, Road No. 1, Bangalore-562149 Bangalore.


title: Star Air (India)

text: Star Air flies to all 17 domestic destinations within India, with its hubs at Kempegowda International Airport and Belagaavi Airport.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri Lankesh (29 January 1962 – 5 September 2017) was an Indian activist and former journalist from Bangalore, Karnataka. She worked as an editor in "Lankesh Patrike", a Kannada weekly started by her father P. Lankesh, and ran her own weekly called "Gauri Lankesh Patrike". She was assassinated outside her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on 5 September 2017. At the time of her death, Gauri was known for being a critic of right-wing Hindu extremism. She was honoured with Anna Politkovskaya Award for speaking against right-wing Hindu extremism, campaigning for women's rights and opposing caste based discrimination.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri Lankesh was born in a Kannada Lingayat family on 29 January 1962. Her father is the poet-journalist P. Lankesh, who established the Kannada-language weekly tabloid "Lankesh Patrike". She had two siblings, Kavitha and Indrajit.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri started her career as a journalist with "The Times of India" in Bangalore. Later, she moved to Delhi with her husband, Chidanand Rajghatta. Shortly after, she returned to Bangalore, where she worked as a correspondent for the "Sunday" magazine for nine years. At the time of her father's death in 2000, she was working for the "Eenadu"'s Telugu television channel in Delhi. By this time, she had spent 16 years of her life as a journalist.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: When their father P. Lankesh died, Gauri and her brother Indrajit visited Mani, the publisher of "Lankesh Patrike", and told him that they wanted to cease the publication. Mani convinced them against the idea. Gauri then became the editor of "Lankesh Patrike", while her brother Indrajit handled the publication's business affairs.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Beginning in 2001, differences developed between Gauri and Indrajit over the paper's ideology. These differences became public in February 2005, when a report about a Naxalite attack on policemen, approved by Gauri, was published in the magazine. On 13 February, Indrajit (who was the paper's proprietor and publisher) withdrew the report, alleging that it favored the Naxals. On 14 February, Indrajit filed a police complaint against Gauri, accusing her of stealing a computer, printer, and scanner from the publication's office. Gauri filed a counter-complaint, accusing Indrajit of threatening her with a revolver. On 15 February, Indrajit held a press conference, where he accused Gauri of promoting Naxalism through the paper. Gauri held a separate press conference where she denied the accusation and stated that her brother was opposed to her social activism. Gauri subsequently started her own Kannada weekly called "Gauri Lankesh Patrike".


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri was a staunch critic of right-wing Hindutva politics. In 2003, she opposed the Sangh Parivar's alleged attempts to Hinduise the Sufi shrine Guru Dattatreya Baba Budan Dargah located at Baba Budan giri. In 2012, while participating in a protest demanding a ban on communal groups in Mangalore, she stated that Hinduism was not a religion but a "system of hierarchy in society" in which "women are treated as second-class creatures". She endorsed a minority religion tag for the Lingayat community and headed the Komu Souharda Vedike, a communal harmony platform for the oppressed communities. She was also of the view that the followers of philosopher Basavanna were not Hindus.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri was known for advocating freedom of the press. She had written about the wrongdoings of the Indian National Congress leader, D. K. Shivakumar, a close associate of the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, S. M. Krishna. She was opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ended her 35-year-old friendship with Prakash Belawadi when the latter became a media advisor to the BJP during the 2014 Indian general election. In November 2014, the Congress-led Karnataka government appointed Gauri as a member of a committee aimed at convincing the Naxalites to give up violence and surrender. However, a delegation of BJP leaders accused her of being a Naxalite sympathiser and demanded her removal from the committee. The chief minister Siddaramaiah rejected the demand.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri was openly critical of the caste system. In 2015, some Brahmins accused her of criticising the novelist S. L. Bhyrappa and Brahminism during the 81st Kannada Sahitya Sammelana (Kannada literary conference) held at Shravanabelagola. At the conference, Gauri remarked that the low-caste author Perumal Murugan was criticised by right-wing Hindu groups for depicting a childless Hindu couple who indulged in consensual sex rituals outside of marriage to have children in his book "One Part Woman". She then pointed out that the Brahmin novelist S. L. Bhyrappa had also depicted the similar Niyoga practice in his novel "Parva", a retelling of the Hindu epic "Mahabharata". She clarified that she was supportive of both these writers, and asked why the Hindu groups who were offended by Perumal Murugan were not offended by Bhyrappa. On 19 February 2015, protesters from the Hassan Zilla Brahmin Sabha ("Hassan district Brahmin Association") organised a rally against her, urging the police to register a First Information Report against her.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: On 23 January 2008, Gauri published an article titled "Darodegilada BJP galu" in her newspaper. The article criticised the BJP leaders Pralhad Joshi, Umesh Dushi, Shivanand Bhat, and Venkatesh Mestry. The article stated that the three BJP workers had cheated a jeweller of . It also stated that the jeweller sought justice from Member of Parliament Joshi and threatened to approach the police should Joshi refuse to help him. Gauri later said that the article was based on "sources within the BJP".


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Joshi and Dushi filed separate defamation suits against Gauri. In Dushi's case, she was a co-accused with Devanand Jagapur, the writer of the article.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri stated that she was being targeted for her left-leaning political views, as the BJP leaders did not sue other local dailies who had published the same allegations. Gauri moved the case to the High Court, seeking dismissal of the case against her. However, in 2016, the High Court refused to dismiss the case and gave instructions for the hearing to be continued in the lower court. The High Court granted a four-week stay on the case, however, and directed the lower court to complete the trial within six months.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: In October 2016, the second Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Court at Hubli issued an arrest warrant for Gauri after she failed to appear before the court and did not respond to earlier warrants. The police detained her and produced her before the court on 1 October 2016. She was released on bail after furnishing a personal bond of .


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: On 27 November 2016, the second JMFC court concluded that Gauri had failed to provide any substantial evidence for her criticism of the BJP leaders and found her guilty of defamation. The court imposed a fine of on her in each case. Besides the total fine of , the court also sentenced her to six months imprisonment. Her co-accused, Devanand Jagapur, was acquitted by the same court. The same court granted her anticipatory bail, however, which made her avoid prison time.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri stated that the BJP leaders had managed to cover their tracks by reaching a compromise with the jeweler; she refused to disclose her source for the corruption allegations against them. She also described the court verdict as a temporary setback and declared that she would challenge it in the higher court.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri and Chidanand Rajghatta divorced after five years of marriage; she remained single after the separation. Although she lived alone and did not have any children, she considered the activists Jignesh Mevani, Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid Shora as her "adopted children" metaphorically.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: On 5 September 2017, three unidentified men shot Gauri to death at her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bangalore. The men fired at least seven bullets at her at around 8 p.m. while she was unlocking the main door of her house after returning from her office. One of the killers, who was waiting for her near her house, fired the first shots at her, while the two others, who are suspected to have followed her from her office, joined the initial shooter thereafter. The killers were wearing helmets and escaped on a two-wheeler Honda Dio after the murder. Three of the bullets pierced Gauri's head, neck, and chest, resulting in her death at the scene.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: The murder was condemned by several people and organisations, including the Indian National Congress and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The Congress leader and Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy compared the murder to that of Narendra Dabholkar and M. M. Kalburgi. Controversial statements by BJP MLA D. N. Jeevaraj and Sri Ram Sena chief Pramod Muthalik were widely criticized. The state police chief, R. K. Dutta, refused to suggest any possible suspects without investigation. BJP leaders criticised the Congress-led state government for allegedly failing to protect the lives of Gauri and other writers like Kalburgi. Protests over her death took place all across India, including a rally in Bangalore a week after the funeral attended by more than 25,000 people.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri was given a state funeral with a gun salute on 6 September, after her body was kept for a few hours at Ravindra Kalakshetra for the public to pay tribute. She was buried in accordance with Lingayat customs. Her family did not follow any religious customs for her as she identified as a rationalist. The BBC described it as the most high-profile journalist murdered in recent years.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: The "New York Times" reported that several accounts followed by Narendra Modi had posted "hateful" tweets in response to Lankesh's assassination, prompting a debate in India.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: During their investigation, the police accessed CCTV footage from her residence and the route leading from Basavanagudi to her house. The city was kept on high alert the day after her death, with police being deployed at toll gates in Nelamangala, Hosur Road and NICE Road in search of the killers. Vehicles entering or exiting the city underwent stringent checks, while police in the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu were also alerted. On 8 September, the Karnataka government announced a reward of for providing information about the killers.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: In 2018, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder case detained two suspects, whom they also suspected of being involved in the murders of Dabholkar and Kalburgi. In June 2018, the SIT stated that Parashuram Waghmore had confessed to the murder: he claimed that he was told to kill someone to save his religion, and that he did not know who the victim was.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: In September 2018, Maharashtra ATS detained 2 suspects related to her murder and also recovered cache of arms from them. A March 2019 "New York Times" article on Gauri Lankesh includes a discussion of the police investigation and murder charges. Her relatives and friends discuss the investigation in a podcast published by openDemocracy in January 2022.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: On 11 August 2022, the special court for Karnataka Control of Organised Crime examined three more witnesses, including two policemen, in the murder trial.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: The assassination is featured along with assassinations of other rationalists such as Narendra Dabholkar, M. M. Kalburgi and Govind Pansare in the documentary mini-series Vivek-Reason by Anand Patwardhan.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: Gauri Lankesh is seen as an important figure for people who are protesting against rightward shift in the governance, for instance on her third death anniversary several journalists and activists participated in #IfWeDoNotRise campaign in her memory and in wake of arrests of dissidents across the nation.


title: Gauri Lankesh

text: In 2021, Burnaby, a Canadian city decided to celebrate Gauri Lankesh Day on September 5 to commemorate her on her death anniversary.


title: Alexey Miller

text: Alexey Borisovich Miller (; born 31 January 1962) is a Russian businessman. Miller is the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Chairman of the Management Committee (CEO) of Russian energy company Gazprom, Russia's largest company and the world's biggest public energy supplier.


title: Alexey Miller

text: Miller was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) to an assimilated Russo-German family. He studied at the Leningrad Institute of Finance and Economics from which he received a PhD in economics.


title: Alexey Miller

text: Miller’s first role was as an engineer-economist in the general planning division of the Leningrad research institute of civil construction ‘LenNIIProekt’.


title: Alexey Miller

text: In 1990, he briefly became a junior researcher at the Leningrad Finance and Economics Institute and also became section head for the Economic Reform Committee at the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council.


title: Alexey Miller

text: From 1991 to 1996, Miller served with the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office under Vladimir Putin. During this time, he was head of the markets monitoring division at the Foreign Economic Relations Directorate and was also deputy chairman of the External Relations Committee.


title: Alexey Miller

text: From 1996 to 1999, he was Director for Development and Investments of the Port of Saint Petersburg. From 1999 to 2000, he served as Director General of the Baltic Pipeline System.


title: Alexey Miller

text: In 2000, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, and since 2001 he has served as Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom. Since 2002, he has also been deputy chairman of Gazprom’s board of directors. Putin secured Miller’s appointment as CEO so that his former colleague could put an end to fears that some of Gazprom’s executives had harmful third-party relationships.


title: Alexey Miller

text: In April 2018, the United States placed Miller on the list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) along with 23 other Russian nationals. The sanction bars U.S. individuals and entities from having any dealings with him. Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Miller was sanctioned by the British government which involved freezing his assets and a travel ban.


title: Alexey Miller

text: In December 2005, Miller was named Person of the Year by "Expert" magazine, the influential Russian business weekly. He shared the title in 2005 with Dmitry Medvedev, Chairman of the board of Gazprom.


title: Bridgewater Triangle

text: The Bridgewater Triangle is an area of about within southeastern Massachusetts in the United States, claimed to be a site of alleged paranormal phenomena, ranging from UFOs to poltergeists, orbs, balls of fire and other spectral phenomena, various bigfoot-like sightings, giant snakes and thunderbirds. The term was coined by New England based cryptozoologist Loren Coleman.


title: Bridgewater Triangle

text: Specific boundaries of the Bridgewater Triangle were first described by cryptozoologist Loren Coleman who coined the term in the 1970s, and later in his book "Mysterious America."