Evermore

12.23 TE
heavyweight  n.特别重的人或物,要人, 重要的人物
fill out  〈主美〉填写(表格等),(通常指因充气)鼓起〔膨胀〕长胖,充实; 增补
well-stocked 储备丰富的，有着坚实后备力量的
crony  n.(有权势者的)密友, 朋友
charisma  n.魅力, 魔力，〈宗〉神授的力量或才能
fundraising  n.筹款,募款adj.筹款的
ethanol  n.乙醇,酒精
cellulose  n.细胞膜质; 纤维素
Berkeley  伯克利(美国加利福尼亚州西部城市)
gleeful  adj.欣喜的, 高兴的, 欢乐的
spearhead  n.先锋, 先头部队，vt.当…的先锋, 带头
tokenism  象征主义
tangentially  adv.无关地
fugitive  n.亡命者, 逃命者，adj.逃亡的, 逃跑的，短暂的; 瞬间的
bombard  vt.炮击, 轰炸, 攻击; 连珠炮般地提问
frenzy  n.狂乱，极度的激动
influx  n.大量涌入
rivalry  n.敌对, 竞争, 对抗

Hillary Clinton 国务卿
Bill Richardson 商务部秘书长
Tom Vilsack 农业部部长
Ken Salazar
Steve Chu 能源部部长
Tom Daschle Department of Health and Human Services  健康与公共事业部部长
Eric Shinseki 退役军人事务部部长
Eric Holder 首席检察官，司法部长

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Obesity
Policies with added weightDec 23rd 2008
From Economist.com
America is becoming more creative in its efforts to fight obesity
Shutterstock
HOLIDAY cheer can give way to new year's gloom when over-indulgers realise that it may take months to shed the pounds put on as a result of festive gluttony. But next year the desire to slim down may gain an unexpected ally: the government. On Tuesday December 16th New York’s governor, David Paterson, announced a controversial plan to help the state’s fight against an obesity crisis while simultaneously replenishing New York’s empty coffers. In 2009 consumers will have to pay an 18% tax on non-diet sodas and sugary drinks.
Critics have denounced the new measure as a “sin tax”. The American Beverage Association, with an outrage only a notch or two below that which sparked the Boston Tea Party, has called Mr Paterson’s tax an unjust “money grab”. The beverage industry is fearful that the new tax will do to fizzy drinks what similar taxes did to smoking: push prices so high that it discourages consumers.

Mr Paterson has economics and the public interest on his side. The state has a $15 billion budget deficit and the new tax is estimated to generate $404m in its first year alone. It is also expected to reduce sugary-drink consumption by 5%. A study by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest showed that soft drinks were the single biggest contributor to calories in the American diet, and most studies link sugary sodas to both diabetes and obesity, which brings with it a whole range of other health problems. And the damage is already widespread. Nearly a quarter of New Yorkers under the age of 18 is obese, as is a third of all Americans.
New York’s new tax is the latest example of efforts in a patchwork of cities and states to combat America’s expanding waistline. In September the concept of menu labelling gained national attention after California passed a statewide law similar to one introduced in New York city in January. The new legislation required fast-food chains to post the calorie content of their products visibly on the menu instead of online or in a separate brochure. As might be expected, the restaurant industry fought hard against the law, worried that the sky-high calories in some of its meals, hitherto unnoticed amid the gorging, would dissuade diners from tucking in.
Other recent policies have been geared not just at transparency but at changing what people eat. In 2006, New York City passed a law that bans restaurants from using artificial trans fats, which clogs arteries and pile on the pounds. Since then several other cities have done the same. Other places have gone even further, banning fast food from certain parts of town. South Los Angeles, which has a particularly high prevalence of obesity, has approved legislation that prevents new fast-food restaurants from opening up in its 32-square-mile domain.
Protecting children from obesity has also been of particular concern for legislators. Many school districts prohibit vending machines that sell soda in schools, and others have even banned the practice of bake sales on school premises, arguing that these seemingly innocent events make unhealthy foods too easily available to youngsters. The good old days of funding school trips with cupcake revenues have apparently come to an end.
Mr Paterson’s team has said that New York’s fight against obesity will not stop with his new tax on sugary soda. More drastic policies, like taxes on other high-calorie foods, may come to pass. Barack Obama, America’s president-elect, has expressed his concern about obesity too. His may be the first administration to co-ordinate the individual policies that are cropping up across the country in order to pursue more aggressive federal action.
But while the financial markets reel and the economy sinks, it could be a challenging time to call attention to Americans’ sagging waistlines. Economic downturns are reckoned to contribute to obesity—people eat in response to stress and have less money to buy nutritious food. Much research has demonstrated the correlation between poverty and obesity: the healthiest foods are often the most expensive. New York’s announcement could highlight the potential for aggressive action against obesity during the current recession. If fighting obesity can also help make cash-strapped states some money, fighting the flab may gain new weight for legislators.

Evermore

12.24 TE
obesity  n.肥胖,肥大
give way to  让路,让步
overindulge  v.溺爱;过度放纵
Gluttony  暴饮暴食
slim down  消瘦
coffer  n.保险柜, 保险箱，金库, 资金
replenish  vt.补充
denounce  vt.公开指责，揭发; 告发，通知废止
beverage  n.饮料
outrage  n.义愤, 愤慨，暴行，骇人听闻的事件vt.引起…的义愤, 激怒
notch  n.(边缘或表面上的)V型痕迹, 刻痕，水平, 等级vt.，在(某物)上刻V形痕
fizzy  adj.嘶嘶的,泡沫腾涌的
calory  n.小卡路里,大卡路里
diabetes  n.〈医〉糖尿病
obese  adj.极为肥胖的
patchwork  noun （由各种颜色和形状的许多小块织物拼缝而成的）拼缝物 ，拼缝手艺 拼凑的东西；杂烩
waistline  n.腰围,腰身部分
sky-high  adj.&adv.极高(的)
hitherto  adv.到目前为止
gorge  n.山峡, 峡谷，咽喉，vt.(用食物把自己)塞饱, 填饱
dissuade from  劝止某人做
tuck  n.(衣服的)褶, 裥，折叠，美容手术，(尤指小学生吃的)糕点、糖果等食品
vt.塞进，翻折
geared  adj.连接的
clog  n.木底鞋; 木屐，vt. & vi.(使)阻碍
domain  n.范围, 领域，版图, 领土，地产, 产业
vending machine  n.自动贩卖机
cupcake  n.〈美〉(波纹)纸托蛋糕
crop up  (尤指石头)裸露在地面各处，突然发生; 意外地发现，犯错误
reel  n.卷轴; 卷筒; 线轴vt.把东西用卷轴卷起来; 从卷轴上放出来vi.蹒跚地走路; 摇晃着移动，发昏; 发热，
sagging  n.下垂[沉,陷],松垂,垂度
correlation  n.相互的关系
cash-strapped  adj.缺乏现金的，资金约束的adj.经济困难的
flab  n.松弛

Evermore

The environment
More silicon, less carbonNov 19th 2008
From The World in 2009 print edition
By Tom Standage
In fighting climate change, are computers part of the problem or part of the solution?

“Please consider the environment before printing this message.” Those words, appearing at the bottom of many e-mails, are a visible manifestation of a trend that will gather momentum in 2009: the move towards more environmentally friendly information technology, or “green IT”. Advertisements for PCs already tout their meagre energy consumption just as prominently as their number-crunching prowess.

Overall, computing and telecommunications today produce 2% of global emissions, according to the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), an industry group. Of these, 49% come from PCs and printers, 37% from telecoms networks and devices, and 14% from data centres—the large warehouses full of computers operated by companies.
The overall volume of emissions is comparable with that from aviation. But the IT industry, unlike aviation, has not provoked the wrath of environmental campaigners. Perhaps that is because computers are less visibly polluting, or their use is not deemed, like air travel, to be frivolous and unnecessary.
The aviation industry has found itself on the defensive, emphasising its efforts to switch to less fuel-hungry aircraft in the coming years. Makers of computer and telecoms gear, by contrast, have chosen to highlight the volume of emissions their machines produce, because they already have newer, greener products to sell today. New processing chips, clever software that lets one machine do the work of many, and smarter cooling systems can all reduce energy consumption and thus carbon-dioxide emissions.


For vendors, in other words, the large environmental footprint of computing presents a sales opportunity. That is one reason why the hubbub about green IT will increase in 2009.
A second reason is that companies like to tell everyone about their efforts to reduce their own carbon emissions, and technology is a relatively easy place to start. Hardly a week goes by without a large company announcing that it has just installed fancy new videoconferencing suites to reduce its carbon footprint. BSkyB, a British satellite-television and telecoms operator, was one of the first companies to go carbon-neutral by reducing its emissions as much as possible (by programming its set-top boxes to switch themselves to standby when not in use, for example), and offsetting the rest. Vodafone, a mobile-telecoms giant, has been turning down the air-conditioning in its base-stations, which accounts for a quarter of its carbon footprint. Allowing the base-stations to operate at 25°C instead of 21°C can cut energy use by 10% in some cases, and newer base-stations can happily run at 35°C. This will, the company says, help it to meet its target of cutting its emissions by 50% between 2006 and 2020. Expect more such announcements, in particular from telecoms and financial-services firms, since a large part of their carbon footprints is associated with computers and networks.
There is a vast scope to use computers in indirect ways to reduce carbon emissions
Green IT is also being pushed for a third reason: the computer industry’s desire to stay in the limelight. It has become apparent that clean technology will be the “next big thing” as the internet becomes pervasive and, correspondingly, less exciting. Venture capitalists and executives have been jumping from computing to clean-tech companies. Promoting computing itself as a clean technology may help those left behind to convince themselves that their field is still at the cutting edge.
However, the GeSI report forecasts that even if whizzy energy-saving technologies are widely adopted in PCs, telecoms networks and data centres, their combined carbon footprint will still nearly double by 2020 simply because so many more people will be using them.

But the good news, according to GeSI, is that there is vast scope to use computers in indirect ways to cut carbon emissions in other industries. Indeed, the savings made possible by computing’s “enabling effects” could amount to five times computing’s own footprint. The examples that spring to mind are the use of videoconferencing and teleworking as low-carbon alternatives to business travel and commuting. In fact, far bigger savings could come from using computers to improve logistics (say, by planning the routes of delivery vehicles more efficiently); using data networking in electrical grids to manage demand and reduce unnecessary energy consumption; and computer-enabled “smart buildings”, in which lighting and ventilation systems turn themselves off if nobody is around.
So computing does indeed have a role in fighting climate change, but that role mainly involves using computers in new ways, rather than making the machines themselves more efficient. It is time for the industry to start thinking outside the box, as it were.

Evermore

12.25 TE
manifestation  n.表明; 表现; 显现
momentum  n.动力, 冲力, 势头，〈物〉动量
tout  vt. & vi.兜售(货物); 招揽(生意)
prominently  adv.显著地
number-crunching  n.〈非正〉(用计算机进行的)特大数量的数字计算
prowess  n.勇敢; 勇猛，高超的技艺; 非凡的才能
computing  n.计算机的运作
Sustainability   可持续性
aviation  n.航空, 航空学，航空工业
wrath  n.〈正式〉愤怒, 狂怒, 盛怒
frivolous  adj.不重要的, 不必要的，轻浮愚蠢的
processing  n.处理
carbon dioxide  n.二氧化碳
vendor  n.摊贩; 小贩，(房屋等的)卖主; 卖方
hubbub  n.嘈杂的说话声，骚动
set-top box  noun 机顶盒，视讯转换器
standby  n.备用的人或物，随时待命
offset  vt.抵消, 补偿
in the limelight  处于舞台照明的地方;成为引人注目的中心;处于显要地位
pervasive  adj.无处不在的; 遍布的; 充斥各处的
whizz  n.子弹等在空中掠过的声音,精明的人,专家v.(使)飕飕作声
commuting  n.,adj.交换(的)
ventilation system  通风系统

Evermore

International
Scramble for the seabedNov 19th 2008
From The World in 2009 print edition
By John Grimond
A looming deadline for claims to underwater riches

Steve Carroll
May 13th 2009 looks like one of those dates used to name boulevards in coup-prone republics. In fact it is the deadline by which countries wishing to lay claim to extensions of their continental shelf must make their submissions to the United Nations. For long largely unnoticed by the bureaucracies of many poor countries, especially some island states with a lot to gain or forfeit, the need to register is causing a belated dash to assemble the necessary geological and other scientific information. The months leading up to May 13th will see a host of new claims to vast expanses of the seabed.
The deadline applies to all countries that ratified the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea before May 13th 1999. Any other coastal state has ten years from the date the convention entered into force for that state. In all, as many as 80 countries may be able to substantiate a claim to an extension of the continental shelf.


Measuring upWhat does that mean? In law, all coastal states can exploit the natural resources on and below the seabed up to 200 nautical miles (370km) from shore. To lawyers, this is the limit of the continental shelf, a juridical concept that carries rights regardless of geography. But the shelf is also a geographical term, used to describe the physical prolongation of land below the sea. Where this extends beyond 200 nautical miles, as it does in several places, the adjacent state can claim the extra margin, up to 350 nautical miles from land (and so long as it is not more than 100 nautical miles from the point at which the water depth reaches 2.5km). If its claim is approved—quantities of geophysical data are necessary—it gains the right to exploit the mineral resources.
The Arctic may contain 90 billion barrels of oil
Back in the 1970s, when the law of the sea was being debated at the UN, the resources on the seabed aroused enormous excitement. Parts of the ocean floor, it was pointed out, were littered with manganese nodules containing nickel, copper and cobalt, and deposits of other metals abounded, not to mention oil and gas. Two obstacles killed the excitement. First, the United States was intensely hostile to the sharing of technology with the new International Seabed Authority (and hence other countries) that the convention made mandatory. This turned America against the entire convention and at the same time put an end to investment in seabed mining by big American and multinational companies. Second, the cost of extracting minerals from several kilometres below the surface of the sea was prohibitive.
Much has changed. In 1994 the convention’s provisions on deep-seabed mining were altered, making the treaty much more appealing to the United States (which will undoubtedly soon ratify it, with Senate and presidential approval). Higher prices of almost all metals, as well as oil and gas, have transformed the economics of mining the deeps. Over the past five years China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and a consortium of east European countries have all been given licences by the International Seabed Authority to explore mining possibilities on the deep-ocean seabed, and Russia has sent a submarine to plant a corrosion-resistant metal flag on the floor of the Arctic Ocean and thus stake a symbolic claim to the resources four kilometres below the North Pole.
Another change is a clutch of new deep-sea discoveries. Some concern minerals: manganese crusts, rich in cobalt, have been found in various places, for example, and American government scientists now believe the Arctic may contain 90 billion barrels of oil and vast amounts of gas. Even more exciting to the energy industry are the gas hydrates that lie on the seabed all over the world. Together these are thought to hold about twice as much energy as all the fossil fuels in existence—though they are immensely awkward to extract and the methane they contain is a pernicious greenhouse gas.
Other discoveries are more exotic. Among them are “black smokers”, the towering rock chimneys along some mid-ocean ridges that send forth from hot vents dark plumes of polymetallic sulphides and other chemicals. Some of these support strange creatures with baffling properties—sulphur-eating bacteria, for instance, and blind shrimps that may be highly irradiated by the vents yet can repair their DNA. Scientists hope that some of these creatures, which are among the few to derive their energy from a source other than sunlight, may hold the clues to anti-carcinogens or tumour-reducing drugs.
Most of the new discoveries lie in deep waters that will remain beyond national jurisdiction. But there will still be rich pickings in the extended continental shelf that is up for grabs by May 13th. Hence the scramble—not quite the scramble for Africa, an area of 30m square kilometres, but a scramble for half as much. And with two-thirds of the 460 maritime boundaries between coastal states either disputed or unresolved, this latest land grab may prove nearly as controversial, as well as profitable, as its 19th-century predecessor.

Evermore

12.26 TE
boulevard  n.大街, 林阴大道
coup  n.〈法〉意外而成功的行动
bureaucracy  n.政府机构,官僚主义, 官僚作风
forfeit  vt.(因违反协议、犯规、受罚等)丧失, 失去,n.丧失的东西; 没收物; 代价
adj.丧失了的; 被没收了的
lead up to  作为…的准备; 导致,使话题(渐渐)转向
expanse  n.广阔的区域
adjacent  adj.邻近的
litter with  使杂乱, 使凌乱
multinational company  跨国公司
consortium  n.(数家公司或银行联合组成的)财团, 联营企业
the Arctic Ocean  n.北冰洋
cobalt  n.钴(符号为Co),钴类颜料,由钴制的深蓝色
awkward  adj.笨拙的, 不灵活的,难操纵的, 使用不便的,尴尬的, 棘手的
methane  n.甲烷, 沼气
pernicious  adj.很有害的; 恶性的
ridge  n.脊, 山脊,脊状突起
vent  n.(气体、液体等进出的)孔、口(鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的)肛门
plume  n.羽毛; 羽毛饰; 羽毛状物,升上空中的羽状物,vt.(指鸟)整理羽毛,(为某事)自喜, 自豪
sulphur  n.硫, 硫磺
shrimp  n.虾, 小虾,矮小的人
irradiate  vt.照亮; 使发光; 使生辉,用X射线等治疗
carcinogen  n.致癌原
tumour  n.肿瘤
jurisdiction  n.司法权; 裁判权
pickings  n.①轻易挣得的或来路不正的财物、好处、利益等②残留的食物等

Evermore

Israel and Hamas
Strikes on GazaDec 27th 2008
From Economist.com
Israel responds to rocket attacks with a massive air raid on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip
AFP
NOBODY should have been surprised by the massive air raids Israel launched on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on the morning of Saturday December 27th, in which the Palestinians say some 195 people were killed. Israel’s government had spent a week declaring as noisily as possible that some such operation was inevitable unless Hamas resumed the truce it declared over on December 19th. Instead, Hamas spent a week pounding southern Israel with almost 300 rockets and mortars. Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, invited Israel’s foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, to last-minute talks in Cairo to avert armed conflict, but his efforts failed. “Enough is enough,” said Ms Livni.
It is too early to tell whether Israel’s response, the most lethal attack it has made on Gaza since Hamas seized power in mid-2007, will inaugurate a prolonged cross-border war or, once Hamas has taken stock, lead swiftly to a new truce. Israel would probably prefer an early ceasefire. Its calculations are haunted by the unsuccessful war it fought against Hizbullah in Lebanon in 2006. In that conflict it hoped to subdue Hizbullah with air power alone, but its aircraft could not prevent the well-armed Islamist movement from firing thousands of missiles into Israel for the duration of a war that lasted more than 30 days. In the end the Israelis had to mount a costly and ill-prepared ground offensive before both sides accepted a ceasefire.


This is an experience Israel will be eager not to repeat in Gaza. Having withdrawn all its soldiers and settlers from the coastal strip in 2005, Israel has no interest in recapturing Gaza and becoming responsible once again for the welfare of its 1.5m residents. Much as it would like to topple the Hamas government, it also knows that fighting an estimated 15,000 highly motivated gunmen in the strip’s congested cities and refugee camps would be a costly affair for both sides. Hamas, meanwhile, has taken a leaf out of Hizbullah’s book and smuggled a large arsenal of rockets into the strip, which it now promises to fire deep into Israel in retaliation for Saturday’s Israeli air strikes.
For the present, the aim of both sides may be quite limited: winning enough of a victory to reinstate a truce on terms more to their own liking. Israel wants Hamas to stop all firing across the border. Hamas wants Israel to end the tough economic blockade it has clamped on the strip in an effort both to halt the rockets and undermine Hamas’s ability to run a successful administration. But now that both sides are shooting in earnest, negotiating a new ceasefire will be hard. Neither can afford to look as if it has been defeated, and Israel’s position is complicated by a general election due in February. Both Ms Livni, the foreign minister, and Ehud Barak, the defence minister, are candidates as leaders of their respective Kadima and Labour parties. Their conduct of the war will help to dictate their political futures.
If the fighting does continue, and especially if Palestinian civilian casualties mount, there is a danger of further escalation, the biggest worry being the possibility of Hizbullah joining the fray in aid of its Palestinian brethren. Ever since the 2006 war in Lebanon, Israel and Hizbullah have been training and rearming in feverish preparation for a second round. Since Hizbullah enjoys close links with both Syria and Iran, that could light the fuse for a wider regional war. Hence the calls from around the world on Saturday for a renewed ceasefire. And although Israel says its operation is just beginning, an early ceasefire may be precisely the result it wants.

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12.29TE
last-minute  adj.最后的,归根究底的
truce  n.休战, 停战(协定); 停止争辩(的协议)
swiftly  adv.很快地,即刻
subdue  vt.征服; 克制,缓和; 减弱
duration  n.持续, 持续的时间, 期间
topple  vi.不稳而倒下,vt.将…推翻, 打倒
congested  adj.(街道、城市等)拥挤的
arsenal  n.兵工厂, 军火库
reinstate  vt.使恢复原职; 使恢复原有权利
instate  vt.任命; 安置
clamp  vt. & vi.夹紧; 夹住
fray  vt. & vi.(使布、绳等)磨损, 磨破
brethren  n.〈旧〉兄弟们, 同胞
rearm  v.重整军备,重新武装

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Israel and Gaza
The air war continues Dec 28th 2008 | JERUSALEM
From Economist.com
Israel continues its assault on the Gaza Strip, killing over 280 people
AP
A SECOND day of Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip on Sunday December 28th took dozens more Palestinian lives—lifting the reported total death toll above 280 people—but failed to staunch Hamas rocket fire into Israel. Ground incursions into Gaza by Israeli forces have thus become more likely and may even be imminent. The army has massed regular armoured and infantry units on the Gaza border, and the cabinet has approved an order to call up some 6,500 reservists. Both steps have been well publicised, perhaps in the hope they might deter further rocket firing and avert a ground war after all.
An initial wave of Israeli air strikes on Saturday morning killed more than 200 Palestinians. Some 60 warplanes, helicopters and drones took part, dropping 100 tonnes of ordnance within four minutes on Hamas offices, training camps, police stations and storehouses in Gaza City and throughout the Strip. Most of the dead were thought to be Hamas militiamen and police, but there were civilian casualties too. In follow-up raids on Saturday and Sunday the main Gaza security complex and prison was hit, as were Hamas’s Al-Aqsa television station and a mosque that, Israel claims, is used by militants for their operations.


The Israeli cabinet approved the attack in principle on December 24th, leaving the timing to the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, the defence minister, Ehud Barak, and the foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. Hamas and other Palestinians were caught off-guard. Mr Barak announced before the weekend that he would open the border crossings and let food and other staples into the Strip. Soldiers in border camps were allowed home for the weekend. Ministers publicly scheduled more consultations over Gaza for Sunday.
Hamas’s rockets have reached farther into Israel than before. One hit a home near the port city of Ashdod on Sunday, almost 40 km from the Gaza Strip, although there were no casualties. On Saturday a shorter-range rocket killed a man in the town of Netivot. Otherwise there have been no Israeli fatalities.
The goal of Israel’s campaign is to stop—or at least significantly reduce—the rocket fire, just as it was in the month-long war between Israel and the Lebanese Hizbullah in the summer of 2006. Then, Mr Olmert was advised that aerial bombardment could silence the missile launchers, but Hizbullah’s missiles proved resilient (they were also more lethal than those used by Hamas now). Three weeks later, and with a third of Lebanon virtually paralysed, grounds forces were sent in. They performed poorly against the entrenched Hizbullah fighters and a cease-fire after three days left Hizbullah free to claim victory and Israel’s military and political leaders embroiled in mutual recriminations.
“After Lebanon,” says Tzachi Hanegbi, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, “everyone understands that rocket fire can’t be silenced by air power alone.” But Hamas, hopelessly outgunned from the air, may well want to lure Israeli ground troops into the heavily built-up Gaza Strip where they could be engaged in street-fighting.
“We are not spoiling for a fight,” Mr Olmert told Israel in a television broadcast on Saturday night. But if this campaign, too, ends badly for Israel, he would go down in history as the leader who lost two wars against two vastly inferior foes. Mr Olmert, facing corruption investigations, is heading a caretaker government pending the formation of a new government after an election, which is due on February 10th.
For Mr Barak, the outcome of the current conflict could shape his future. Whatever Mr Olmert’s formal powers, the defence minister and Labour Party leader is seen as running the war. He has encouraged this perception with a string of tough-sounding interviews to Israeli and foreign media.
Mr Barak has been lagging far behind Ms Livni of Kadima and Binyamin Netanyahu, the opposition Likud leader, in the election campaign. In desperation, he mounted a countrywide campaign last week, on billboards and on the Internet, admitting that he is “not nice”, “not cuddly”, and “not trendy”. Such qualities might be useful in attacking Hamas, and may perhaps prove popular among the Israeli electorate too.