My methods work (as if any of you doubted it). A speech I drafted for Sir John Sawers on the broad themes of Technology, Security, Freedom has won a 2016 Cicero Award over in the USA under the Public Policy heading. The Cicero 2016 Grand Award went to Dain Dunston for […]
What do younger British people actually know about the European Union? Three younger Crawfs have been making their way through the posh end of the UK education system. Two have finished University and (praise the Lord) are working. Crawf Minima is hurtling towards GCSEs. I have conducted detailed research into […]
Back in the day when this blog generated new material like a whirling dervish on heat, I contributed to the BritBlog Roundup – a self-appointed group of bloggers who took it upon themselves to assemble more or less thematic round-ups from the blogosphere as a contribution to the common weal. […]
A reader asks very pertinent Brexit questions: Is the referendum we are having on 23rd June our only chance to leave the EU? In other words, if we voted to stay in this time, would we ever be able to, or have another opportunity to leave again? There seems to […]
Would the UK lose or gain in ‘security’ terms if it was not part of the European Union? Yes! says my old boss Pauline Neville-Jones, with a rather graceless swipe at former MI6 Chief Richard Dearlove: I do not join those who argue that were the UK to leave the […]
Back in 2009 I wrote two hefty pieces here about ICTY and its role in bringing to justice Balkans war crimes suspects. This one, on the occasion of the viewing of a film Storm: I said that in this sense the film had done a good job, bringing out a […]
The arrest of Radovan Karadžić back in 2008 prompted me to write at some length about him and his life and times. See here. Two pieces read nicely now. This one: Karadžić looks to have been a second-rate romantic who became improbably entangled in Bosnian nationalist politics and then was […]
The news crashes in of the latest terrorist attacks in Europe, this time in Brussels. Earlier this morning I read this piece by George Friedman about ‘illiberal democracy’ in Poland and Hungary: The point is that liberal democracy as a principle of government has a vast array of possible configurations. […]
My latest for the Telegraph: if V Putin would enjoy #Brexit, does that mean that it’s a bad idea? The end of the Cold War was the moment of moments for radically restructuring Europe’s economic and strategic architecture. Europe’s then leaders blew the opportunity, choosing instead to stick with their […]
Remember my adventures in 2014 with the NHS? And before that in 2011? I am back in the mysteries of the NHS again, this time visiting an elderly close relative. Hence not much blogging of late. Back in 2014: The information management problems for hospitals are formidable. At each stage […]
