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LEADING ARTICLE : The really special relationship...

Saturday 31 May 1997 23:02 BST
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Who cares about Nato or Northern Ireland when a variant of the ever-popular "glamorous women mud-wrestle" story presents itself? But, before trying to answer that question, try your hand at these easier ones, the answers to most of which appeared on the front pages of our national press this week. Those who weren't paying attention will find the answers at the bottom of the page.

What colour was Cherie's coat-dress?

Whose dress - Hillary's or Cherie's - had the highest neck?

Foie gras or salad: who started with which and what did it cost?

Who wore the shiny tights, and was that a good thing?

And finally, no answer yet available: what do Hillary and Cherie, working mothers both, think of their husbands' welfare strategies, of which Tony Blair said on Thursday "We have agreed a common agenda"? The President is a few years ahead of the Prime Minister. His welfare "reforms" have included a purge on benefits to single mothers that is filling America's homeless shelters to overflowing and risks driving an estimated million children into poverty as the two-year limit on benefits starts to bite.

Let us hope that Mr Blair, who this week will express his concern about getting single mothers back to work, intends a less violent strategy and heeds another lesson from America. Single mothers are only removed from poverty and welfare dependence if there is investment in the mechanisms for them to return to work. That may cost more than a few mothers' clubs funded by the lottery.

Answers: slate-grey; Hillary's to hide her 49-year-old neck (our first lady's younger than yours); Cherie(pounds 15)/Hillary(pounds 3); Hillary, and, no, it was a fashion blunder

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