One of the features of my former site was the revolving set of comments from happy or disgruntled readers and others.

That has gone (“no clutter!”). But some of them were wonderful in unexpected ways, and most of the ones that were less than wonderful were at least noteworthy. So, both by popular request and for the record, here they are in full.

In no special order. Where there is incoherence or sheer folly, don’t blame me. Much.

Amol Rajan

Despite reading it closely, I’m still not convinced how on earth Charles Crawford is allowed to blog as he does

FCO Security Review 1984

Perceptive, idealistic, impetuous, intolerant, abrasive

FCO Annual Appraisal 2003

Opinionated, passionate, disruptive

FCO Annual Appraisal 2001

Not many Balkan Ambassadors would have thought of borrowing a kangaroo

Comment on Craig Murray’s blog

A renowned ‘yes’ man for his government masters … It was servility, not talent, that greased [Crawford’s] career path

Bodwyn Wook (ex-beekeeper)

One need only read Camille Paglia to realise what a sewer of murder and phantasy and longing underlies Mr Crawford’s oh-so-conscious “intellectual” speculations. He thereby gets to carry the can for us all

FCO Annual Appraisal 2000

Ideas deluge forth, some unfiltered

Civil Service Selection Board 1979

Paraded a self-consciously progressive approach which, if persisted in, could be tiresome

Craig Murray

Charles has a different political view to mine. We argue fiercely. But he is logical and consistent, and I rather like him.

Perry de Havilland, Samizdata 2005

Yes, this guy should indeed be fired from his job as an ambassador… he belongs in 10 Downing Street doing Tony Blair’s job

Devil’s Kitchen blog, 2005

A simple ambassador who talks in plain English!

Edward Lucas

Britain’s ambassador to Poland, Charles Crawford, is sharp in his wits, pen and humour

Old Jack Tar, Samizdata 2005

A diplomat speaking the truth? A diplomat? No, no, no, this will never do! Next thing you know we’ll be seeing water running uphill … and all manner of other freakish occurrences that risk tearing a hole in the space-time continuum

Andrew Dodge, Samizdata 2005

Such honesty has no place in modern government…it’s bloody dangerous!

Suze (comment on B92 website), May 2008

Charles your negative words just do not penetrate the Serbian psyche

John O’Sullivan, National Review Online 2007

Charles Crawford, the British ambassador, is similarly an unconventionally effective diplomat

Alex Massie, Spectator 2008

Do we tend to hold an inflated opinion of the FCO’s brain-packed brilliance anyway? One for Charles Crawford to answer, I think

Daniel Kawczynski MP, House of Commons 2006

I met Mr Crawford last December during a brief visit to Warsaw. He represents our country extremely well. He is not frightened to put forward our stance. He does not suffer fools gladly and he does a very good job in being quite strong with the Polish Government and protecting our interests

Michael Dembinski, BPCC blog

Charles’ writing on Poland cuts through the lazy thinking, sloppy journalism, misleading political shorthand and sheer ignorance that often appears in the UK media – and indeed in Government circles – when Polish politics, history or economics are mentioned

Sunday Times, November 2005

“Charles is very hard-working although he does have an off-beat sense of humour. He is a very funny guy, trying to do his best,” said one friend yesterday

Your Freedom and Ours blog, May 2009

Several of the postings are highly entertaining and very interesting in Mr Crawford’s no-holds-barred attacks on those who make apparently highly moral but, in reality, rather dubious statements

Mary, commenting via Craig Murray’s blog, April 2009

I have just skimmed CC’s Blog. How pretentious and what a load of (boring) twaddle

FCO Appraisal, 2007

He does not hide his personal scepticism about the FCO change agenda

Blast Receiver, after St Albans School Prize Giving, September 2009

Hi Charles – really enjoyed your speech – which was witty and funny and pitched just right: you’re not boring

Neil Craig, A Place to Stand blog, September 2009

Charles is not a “moral vacuum” … Mr Crawford actively defends actions which he clearly knows were genocidal & evil … He wasn’t born that way – it is a result of a governmental system, meshing perfectly with those in the US & EU systems, which has no ethical basis

Anon, commenting on Craig Murray’s site, October 2009

For a man of such verbosity you seem to have a very small capacity for understanding reality

Anticant’s Arena, October 2009

There has always been an element of school playground “yah boo sucks” rhetoric in party politics. But when Charles Crawford laments that “we are now reduced to whose imaginary ex-cat stinks the most”, he might ask himself why. My answer is cowardice

Victor Meldrew, October 2009

Judging from this blog, I think you should be cloned and stand in every available seat

Politics.co.uk

There’s a lot to be said for this blog from former diplomat Charles Crawford. For those with an interest in international affairs and diplomacy this site is an absolute must. The look of the site could certainly do with updating – it looks like an a page from the mid-nineties … But when it comes to content there’s few that can match Charles for both regularity and quality. The unique perspectives of a long-time diplomat are the sort of thing everyone should be reading, regardless of their political background

European Affairs Society, October 2009

He is known for his unorthodox diplomacy and excellent public speaking skills

Slugger O’Toole, December 2009

A post that demonstrates the real power of the blogosphere, in which the sharpest insights are not to be found in the highest profile blogs but the ones just bubbling underneath. Charles has an excellent piece on how the inner inner ring of the British establishment is now punishing Tony Blair and his inner ring for marginalising them in the run up and conduct of the Iraq war

Dominic Lawson, The Times 2010

The most telling critique of this delusional foreign policy comes in regular instalments in the form of a blog by the former British ambassador to Poland, Charles Crawford. If you want to know just how much in despair many of our diplomats are, this is the place to look

Expatua.com, January 2010

Here’s an entertaining blog. Everything is pretty much covered in it, from climate change to Russian law. You will probably need the requisite “dry British humour” in places

Reiner Torheit, unhappy Telegraph Blogs reader

The reality of your schtick, Crawford, is to engineer any scenario which permits your yankee paymasters to hang onto CampBondsteel, and operate it within a fictional country whose strings they pull. To call you cynical would be an understatement

Reader comment, The Times of Malta 2010

Charles Crawford conservatism is already clear in the way GonziPN is treating pensioners and other vulnerabe people. Facts speak louder than denials! But , as the saying goes ” il lupo cambia il velo ma non il vizzio”

Reader comment, Maltastar website 2010

Mr. Crawfords interest is money. He doesn’t bother of anything else. He is truly a spinner. One who loves and see only money is called a spinner

Reader on Craig Murray’s website, 2010

You [Charles Crawford] are a disgraceful, immoral, racial supremacist. Your kind have destroyed the pride of the United Kingdom after Nazism was defeated by our mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers. You and your peers are incapable of any strategy except lying. You have shredded the international justice embedded in the Geneva Convention. If you had the slightest understanding of the implications of your snotty drivel, you would be looking for a new identity in South America like your Nazi predecessors

Reader in Philadelphia USA, 2010

I just finished your subject article (‘A Very Polish Conservative’) in today’s NRO. It was an outstanding summation of many complex issues. And it was written with a wonderful sense of proportion and perspective

Owen, Transconflict comment 2012

The stale odour of complacent Majorite neo-realism, sexed up with an intro of pure, ineffable Foreign Office superiority and disdain for lesser breeds

Reader Boris Volodarsky, 2010

Finally, out of a wall of stupid and totally unqualified media reports, including two articles in The Sunday Times (July 4, 2010) not to mention the Independent of the same date, there is something worth reading

Keith Ruffles (eclectic Lefty blogger) 2010

I also fear that Crawford places too much weight on his experiences out East, as if the communism of the Soviet Union and its satellites were and are the sole expression of left-wing politics

Anonymous FCO official, 2010

For aspiring diplomats it is great to have as free-spirited and courageous a role model as yourself, to sharpen and define the issues

Editor of Blic (Belgrade), 2010

I would like to congratulate you for marvellous blog – very funny but also very informative and provocative

Maciej Zywiol, 2011

Another proof that Charles Crawford was THE sharpest knife in TEDxKraków 2010 drawer (full of plenty of other sharp knives, so that’s saying something!)

Bill Romine, munificent Telegraph Blogs reader

Charles why are you such a racist and so full of hate? Tell me how many Christians live in Pristina? I challenge you to go there and see for yourself, in fact my corporation will pay for you to go

Richard de Lacy, confused Telegraph Blogs reader

You won’t get an answer from Crawford on this. Many have asked him similar questions, but he’s one of those rather cowardly little “trolls” infesting the Internet… I suppose he could be just dim instead, but either way – he’s perfect Foreign and Commonwealth Office material

Marplot (cheery Telegraph Blogs reader)

Sod the internet, Crawford, reflect upon my ponderings above and conduct yourself accordingly. Why, just the hell, do you think the internet is filled with such bile? Look at yourself in the mirror – conceited, smug, self-satisfied, cheek-by-jowl with nothing appointee that you are