But because of the Academies Bill's timetable, "we have the spectacle of ministers who have already told us they will accept no amendment, period, and the sight of whips new and old cracking their knuckles off-stage and perfecting basilisk-like stares in the mirror" to prevent MPs voting for any changes, he said.

BBC: MP accuses government of intimidating backbenchers

On a cold December evening in 1822, inspired by the sight of dozens of snow-covered chimneys sprouting from new dwellings along Broadway in New York's Greenwich Village, Clement C.

FORBES: Santa Claus' First Ride

Having been to Manhattan a number of times on business, I figured that either the news was completely fabricated or a sight-seeing plane had strayed into some building near New York.

FORBES: Edgefield Federal Prison, Sept 11, 2001

The French, unused to the American criminal-justice system, have been particularly shaken by the sight of an unshaven, handcuffed Mr Strauss-Kahn being led away by New York's finest.

ECONOMIST: Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Some have so lost sight of the ends in pursuing the means that each new government sanction or consumer-boycott-induced withdrawal of a foreign investor is celebrated as a triumph in itself.

ECONOMIST: Myanmar

Professor SAPOLSKY: Well, because at some point, I kind of have to sit there and look at my own 40-year-old self and in terms of openness to new experience, it was not a pretty sight.

NPR: Does Age Quash Our Spirit of Adventure?

"This new surgically implanted assistive device provides an option for patients who have lost their sight to RP -- for whom there have been no FDA-approved treatments, " said Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, in a statement.

CNN: FDA approves first bionic eye

Among the watchers was Vikki Bailey, 28, on a sight-seeing trip to London from Canterbury with three friends, who included the capital's new mayor on their list.

BBC: 'Boris factor' creates a buzz