Yet now it seems these observers fell into the trap of overestimating the UK's role on the world stage.
And even now, it seems, many observers have qualms, arguing that some things ought still to be private and discretion is the really British way.
Other signatories - and now, it seems, interested observers like the six neuroscientists who have written to Nature - disagree.
It seems most observers think Steve Jobs has compounded a mistake he made in limiting the market for the revolutionary device to those early adopters hungry for the advanced Web experience and elegant design.
It also seems that observers of fertilizer producers are lowering their expectations at a time when farm incomes look assured to be depressed on account of weakness in commodity prices, while bumper crops hardly augur well for increased demand.
It seems the Observer has double standards and does not apply the principle of free speech to those it supports.
That was how Blair seemed to observers — a politician whose great strength was his instinctive attunement to the public.
It seemed to observers that, having tested Putin's patronage and his patience, he was now giving something back.
Clementine seemed, to observers, to be less fond of her son, Randolph, than of his wife, Pamela, who remembered that only Clementine could say no to Winston, "and she did that often, often, often, often".
But it seems unprecedented, legal observers have said, to in addition allow anonymity to all the parties.
