"I think what this does unequivocally is end the conversation of whether this is a class effect, " says FitzGerald.

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In the new conversation, marriage and thrift, the two great engines of the American middle class since the nation's founding, stand best when they stand together.

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She adroitly shifted the conversation away from an unpleasant topic and put on a master class in media skills.

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That geographic and infrastructural reality is old news, but up until very recently, the conversation around the referendum focused on the possibility that independence could bring a new class of investors into the south, namely major oil and construction companies who have been cut out by the U.S. sanctions on Khartoum.

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Mr Hughes, a former first-class cricketer, knows his game and has a keen ear for conversation among the commentators and the players.

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