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May 31
Geri Halliwell has left the Spice phenomenon behind her
1998: Ginger leaves the Spice Girls
England have
Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, has left the chart-topping Spice Girls
band.
The announcement follows days of increasingly feverish speculation, after
Geri - the driving force behind the band - missed the BBC"s National Lottery
Show on Wednesday, and two concerts in Norway.
Earlier today, the group said a statement would be made at the offices of
their solicitors in central London at 1400 BST.
The Spice Girls are here to stay ... Friendship never ends.
The Spice Girls minus Ginger.
About 30 journalists gathered outside the offices of Lee & Thompson and
tension mounted as the deadline passed.
Almost half an hour later and after several false alarms Ms Halliwell"s
solicitor, Julian Turton, and Alan Edwards, the spokesman for the remaining four
members of the band, finally emerged.
Mr Turton read out a statement which he said was written by Geri.
"Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is
because of differences between us. I"m sure the group will continue to be
successful and I wish them all the best... PS, I"ll be back."
This was followed by the announcement on behalf of the remaining four
members of the group, which said they were "upset and saddened" but will carry
on and fulfil their commitments including the forthcoming American tour.
The group are due to play 40 dates in the United States, beginning in nine
days" time, followed by a charity concert in Rome and four dates in Britain.
It said they were supportive of Geri in whatever she wanted to do, but
added, "The Spice Girls are here to stay ... Friendship never ends".
It remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of the end of Britain"s
most successful band since the Beatles, or whether they can shrug off their
differences and move on to greater things.
Arthur Miller had close associations with the Communist party
1957: Arthur Miller guilty of contempt
Artificially 1969:
The US playwright Arthur Miller has been convicted of contempt of
Congress.
The conviction relates to an investigation last year by the House of
Representatives" Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) into a Communist
conspiracy to misuse American passports.
During the investigation 41-year-old Mr Miller, who is married to Hollywood
movie star Marilyn Monroe, refused to reveal the names of alleged Communist
writers with whom he had attended five or six meetings in New York in 1947.
He was said to be co-operative in all other aspects of the hearing but told
the committee his conscience would not permit him to give the names of others
and bring possible trouble to them.
"Exposure for exposure"s sake"
The guilty verdict was announced in a 15-page "opinion" today by Federal
Judge McLaughlin who presided over a six-day trial, which ended last week.
During the trial Mr Miller"s counsel, Joseph Rauh, had claimed that the
questions his client had refused to answer had no reasonable connection with a
passports inquiry.
He argued that the committee had simply wanted to expose the playwright and
that "exposure for exposure"s sake" was illegal.
But Judge McLaughlin found that HUAC did have a valid legislative purpose
in looking into the passport regulations and that Mr Miller had indeed
experienced his own difficulties in obtaining a passport from the State
Department.
The trial was told by the government that Mr Miller had joined the
Communist party in 1943 but this was denied by the defendant who said that to
the best of his belief he had never been a party member.
He did, however say that "there were two short periods - one in 1940 and
one in 1947 - when I was sufficiently close to Communist Party activities so
that someone might honestly have thought that I had become a member".
Mr Miller was not in court when the guilty verdict was announced. The
maximum punishment for contempt of Congress is one year in jail, a fine of ?57
or both.
No date was fixed for sentencing but it is understood the case will
automatically go to appeal.
After the trial Mr Miller, who will remain on bail pending the next legal
step, said through a spokesman: "I have no comment to make, nor has my
wife."
The case is now bound to call into question the whole system of
Congressional inquiries and their impingement on individual rights.
Vocabulary:
solicitor: 律师，法律顾问
impingement: 侵犯，冲击 |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:21:25