First, he took on the teachers' unions by proposing more pay for performance (the unions like the extra pay, but not the strings attached).

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On Wednesday, Mr Blair took the unusual step of following up his chancellor's Budget statement - with the promise that the extra money comes attached to some hefty strings.

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One Green Party councillor in Solihull told us that this extra money was being offered with tight government strings attached, while spending on other local services like adult day centres were having to be pruned radically because of the budget cuts.

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But gravitational strings have no sticky ends and can wander freely off into Dr Arkani-Hamed's extra dimensions, where they have no effect on matter stuck to the membranes of the observable universe.

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The Mittelstand's trade association complains that even the friendliest savings banks are tightening their purse strings as a result of the Basel 2 accords on bank capital, which compel them to hold extra reserves against loans to small firms.

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