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December 10, 2003

Scrum down. All is peace and harmony in the world, or so the Swiss president seemed to think as he read out his preposterously tedious speech. (It was one of those "peace is good, war is bad" speeches for which the United Nations is renowned.)

He might have thought differently had he been at the other end of the hall, where technocrat turned against bureaucrat as a scrum formed at the entrance.

Government officials swore in a hundred different languages, with one delegate offering a clearly discernible cry of "stronzo bestiali" as he was trampled underfoot. Now that's what I call freedom of expression.

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