All of which should be music to the ears of TI's shareholders.

FORBES: Beyond the sunset

All of which will be music to the ears of Michael Gove, the education secretary, who said last month that he was determined to reform A-levels.

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When it was suggested that more debris from the cathedral roof be sold in the gift shop the canon was all ears.

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Industry appeals that the arsenal is growing old, that potential adversaries are catching up, that jobs will be lost and that contract terms are too onerous have all fallen on deaf ears.

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Above all, people speaking for the first time must not be met with deaf ears.

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But it might be in our ears, on our wrists, on the objects we observe or all three together and more.

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