Periscope.(Tony Blair, views on nationalism in Germany, spitting in China, luxury hotel services, trailer homes in the United States)(Statistical Data Included)

BRITAIN

Blair's Immunity to the British Malaise

They called him Teflon Tony four years ago, and he still fits the bill. Britain is a mess these days, but somehow Prime Minister Tony Blair heads into the next election looking remarkably strong. The country's problems go far beyond foot-and-mouth, which has sunk the "Cool Britannia" image, threatens Britain's [pound]70 billion-a-year tourism industry, and has made the government's crisis managers look like bumblers.

A series of train wrecks in recent years have exposed serious infrastructure flaws in the rail system, privatized seven years ago; about 100 new trains sit idle, many just waiting to clear safety checks. State-run hospitals may not all be "old and Victorian"--as London resident Madonna complained--but the National Health Service is beset by a nurse shortage and long waiting lists. State schools are battling an exodus of teachers, compounded by a fizzled recruiting drive by the government. And then there are financial embarrassments like the [pound]758 million Millennium Dome (which the government is now struggling to unload at cut-rate prices) and the [pound]18 million Millennium Bridge (a footbridge across the Thames, closed for safety reasons the day it opened).

So, does Tony Blair walk on water? Yes--buoyed by his so-called opposition, the Conservative Party. Blair's youthful appeal and his party's makeover from the doctrinaire socialist party of the 1970s are enormous assets. But he benefits even more from the fact that Britons remain abidingly tired of the Tories. Eighteen years of Margaret Thatcher and John Major? That memory alone seems to exempt Blair from any responsibility for his country's afflictions. Indeed, Blair's entire first term has been one long honeymoon. As for his second? He has another week or so to decide whether the election is to be held, as once expected, on May 3. He's desperate to go ahead: after all, if you're Teflon Tony, why delay when you look OK? But events could force him to delay if his good fortune, for once, fails him.

MAOIST MANNERS

Spit Happens