So some might be forgiven for thinking they were taking a backward step bringing their hour-long show, entitled Chase the Dream, Not The Competition, to Edinburgh's Udderbelly, which holds just 410 people.

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Philip Ruddock, the immigration minister, has taken a backward step by introducing a kind of second-class citizenship for some refugees.

ECONOMIST: Huddled masses

This is -- would be a giant step backward.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

The technology feels like a step backward, from big mechanical machines using nineteenth-century technology to a new system that involves people copying information by hand from one piece of paper to another.

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Moreover, as I think you know, plan B represents -- or would represent a major step backward in these discussions and a major step backward for the American people.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

Over cappuccino in an upmarket cafe in the capital, Tbilisi, Giorgi Kandelaki, an MP from Mr Saakashvili's party, told me the decision to re-erect the statue was a backward step.

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If the issue of vendor lock-in is not carefully managed, the cloud could represent a step backward in terms of its impact on flexibility and choice in the enterprise.

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Last September when Apple ditched its Google Maps iPhone app and replaced it with its amazingly inept home-built Maps app, the move was so roundly denounced as a step backward and a weakening of the iPhone environment that chief executive Tim Cook had to release a public apology.

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Sadly, the United States, where innovation-intensive industries account for one third of GDP, looks set to keep taking one step backward for every step forward in that drive.

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