The public are not listening, and even friends concede that he has yet to match his intellectual fervour to a coherent strategy.

Privately, a friend of the trapped miners watching the rescue scene conceded to losing hope.

He is an intensely smart, ambitious man who friends conceded is also arrogant to a fault.

A friend of both of them, who has watched this unhappy saga unfold over the last decade, now concedes: 'I am sorry for the tragedy of it all.

He and his friends conceded that they do not have a high regard for hippies and punks.

(Mr. Crispo, whom even friends concede can be difficult when crossed, has employed an army of lawyers over the years.)

Even friends conceded that he had some rough edges and lacked a sense of humor.

Oh, New Jersey doctors were O.K. if everything was simple, my friends conceded.

Even his friends concede that Pillsbury can be difficult, being something of a diva, hot-tempered and imperious.