There’s been a trend in the media lately to refer to well-known people by their last name only, without any titles or honorifics. This can be downright fun at times. 🙂 For example:
Back in May of last year, The Washington Post announced that I had been elected as the British Prime Minister!
More recently, C|Net News.com published an article about an upcoming documentary from the British Government which includes, "documentary-style footage of Blair on the job".
Wow. I never even noticed the film crew!