Beware the Ides of August

Posted By James Forsyth Friday, August 4, 2006 - 1:56 PM Share

August seems like a safe time to book a holiday. Nothing happens then, and everyone else is gone anyway. Nonsense. As the British commentator Frank Johnson never tires of pointing out “in the 20th century, August was the month in which more events of great importance happened than any other month in the calendar.” He makes a decent case:

Both world wars broke out in August. Britain's biggest financial crisis was August 1931. The Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968. The only American president to resign, Nixon, did so in August 1974. August 1997 brought the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Now, Tony Blair has delayed his holiday to help broker a UN resolution on the Lebanon. He spoke to Kofi Annan on Thursday night and that apparently prompted his decision to remain homebound. It would have been an interesting conversation to eavesdrop on given that Annan’s right-hand man just told Blair to butt out of the talks and that Annan himself has been stirring up dissent in Blair's government. Vacation plans, it seems, aren't the only ones that require revising.

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