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It is one of a number of signs that Mrs Clinton's candidacy may

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It is one of a number of signs that Mrs Clinton's candidacy may be waning.Mrs Clinton last year expressed support for a Palestinian state at a time when Israel was blocking progress on Middle East peace. The White House immediately said that this was a personal position taken by Mrs Clinton, and not US policy."I'm in the same position as the White House and Mrs Clinton is out there favouring the Palestinians," Mr Giuliani said yesterday in a TV interview.The statement about Palestine came as the White House was trying to manoeuvre the Israelis back to the negotiating table. One of the levers it had was the threat that if Yasser Arafat declared a Palestinian state this year, the US would align itself with him against the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.New York City has a large Jewish population, though it is by no means clear Mrs Clinton's statement would count against her. The American Jewish population disapproved of Mr Netanyahu's resistance to peace negotiations.

But the appearance of the issue is a sign that Mrs Clinton will not get a free ride to the Senate.She would have a strong chance if she chose to stand. She scored well in an opinion poll by Time magazine and CNN, which put her ahead of Mr Giuliani by 52 per cent to 43 per cent. Her lead was especially strong in New York City.But Mr Giuliani is seen as a stronger voice on New York's interests: Mrs Clinton was born in Illinois, lives in Washington and spent many years in Arkansas.Doubts expressed by people close to US Vice-President Al Gore put a further question- mark over her candidacy. "Mr Gore may have more to lose than gain if Mrs Clinton runs in New York," The New York Times reported yesterday.The campaign would draw support from Mr Gore, who is all but certain to be the Democratic candidate for president in 2000. It would focus the President's attention on New York, and draw money and celebrity attention away from him, the report said.Sources close to Mr Gore also told reporters last week that on balance they thought it unlikely Mrs Clinton would run She has not decided yet and may not do so for some weeks..

FRANCE IS in the midst of a great social experiment - the mandatory reduction of working hours - which may or may not point the way forward for all industrialised societies in the 21st century. The concept is simple: if we all work less, there will be more jobs for all The implications are kafkaesque. How do you reduce a train ticket inspector's weekly hours to 35 when he officially works 39 but actually only works 25? How do you enforce such a law at a time of increasing global competition, without handicapping business and, in the long term, losing jobs? Of all the policies pushed by Lionel Jospin's centre-left coalition government, the 35-hour week was the one which was to mark Jospinism from the other brands of remodelled centre- leftism now on offer (Clintonism, Blairism and Schroderism) It was also the policy which was to make or break the career of its main sponsor, the employment minister Martine Aubry (the daughter of Jacques Delors).Eight months after the introduction of the first, voluntary, phase of the reform, the results have been confusing and perverse. In the area in which Ms Aubry hoped to have most impact - the creation of jobs - the effects have been minimal.

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