With the energetic Mr Venizelos also serving as his deputy prime minister, Mr Papandreou appears to have distanced himself from the day-to-day handling of Greece's plight, although he speaks frequently to Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.

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The Republicans are in a corner - over a barrel - although perilously unaware of their plight.

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Another difficulty is the financial plight of neighbouring Russia, although Mr Nazarbaev barely mentioned this.

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And although doubts over the relative severity of the plight in Ireland are no doubt part of the reason, I think there are at least two more.

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Although they are now united in condemning the hopelessness (in both senses of the word) of Michael Howard's election campaign and although the more perceptive among them understand how little the party's plight has been changed by winning back a few seats, there is no agreement on what to do about it.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

She said although she was "too afraid" to call for help, her obvious plight was ignored by passers-by.

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