The first is a concession to irreversible economic trends, the second a concession to political and budgetary reality.

"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy-but that could change."

But he quickly added, "The increasing use of Chinese resources in research and development is a sure thing, an irreversible trend."

This is not an irreversible trend, however.

On the other hand, many officials celebrate any reprieve from what had seemed to a nervous public to be an irreversible trend for years.

He once said: "I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy.

There is a failure to appreciate that going from mass transit to personal transportation is a giant leap forward and an irreversible trend.

It can be argued that economic globalization may or may not be an irreversible trend.

His own position is unclear, though he has said bluntly in the past that a shrinking church may be an irreversible trend.

Even so, democratization appears to be an irreversible trend in cinema.