1.  By the time I got my chance at the cash register, my white friends had been promoted to management.

2.  Blair, while wanting to promote his friend Mandelson, also wanted to appease unionists by moving Mowlam, his aides concede.

3.  A few months later, my friend was promoted upstairs.

4.  Everett Winters, president of the American Association of Affirmative Action, contends that what affirmative action programs really do is keep managers from automatically promoting their friends.