I was back stalking in the long corridors of the Foreign Office today, to give a talk on behalf of ADRg Ambassadors.

I put in a word for Mediation as an example of the hard-edged soft power tool the UK now needed to be ffective at a time of growing global uncertainty – many political issues had at their root emotional uncertainty, and trained insights into how to tackle issues at that level could be really useful at all diplomatic levels.

But most of the presentation developed the idea of the decline in impact of UK and EU diplomacy caused by the accumulation of lumpen useless processy Mass at the expense of far more important diplomatic Velocity.

The EU (I said) was doomed to fail eventually and give way to something else. How to approach that fact now?

In the meantime, how to deal with the obvious international success of countries who got results often at our expense precisely by not being part of clunky, neurotic, over-engineered wider regional blocs: Venezuela, Brazil, China, Russia and so on? 

A good turn-out (70+ diplomats) sat there somewhat stunned to hear one damnable heresy after another.

I also asked them this question back from 2009 to see who had been paying attention:

What is the Supreme Quality in any Brief?

  • Speed
  • Looks at all angles of the problem
  • Clear, reasonable recommendation
  • Readable
  • Accuracy
  • Facts/Opinions/Recommendations kept separate
  • At-a-glance understandable
  • Honesty/integrity

And the answer is ..?

It was excellent that at least one person there got the answer right, because he is an avid and intelligent follower of this website. (We had a quick word – drop me a line!)

Good to see lots of old freinds again fleetingly.

And to be reminded why I left the UK’s public service, in some despair.