Here is an interesting piece about Judith Gough, HM Ambassador to Ukraine, who is accompanied on her posting by her female civil partner: “the first full discussion with a member of the press about life as an out-and-proud ambassador”. Note the desperate improvisation of the FCO scouring its sprawling building […]
Here’s a link to the original documents comprising the UK/EU ‘settlement’ that are the basis for PM David Cameron now campaigning for a Yes vote. So, question. Is the settlement ‘legally binding’? Yes! says Mr Cameron. No! says the Brexit tendency. A highly simplified analysis of this question is given by the BBC: The Vienna Convention on the Law of […]
Battle is joined. In the coming weeks the bemused UK public will mull over the pros and cons of the UK’s EU membership, and then give their view in a fateful referendum in June. As US ambassador-poet James Russell Lowell put it in the C19: Once to every man and […]
Most people at some point in their lives face a daunting moment when their presentation skills will be tested as never before: a job interview. This is not ‘public speaking’ in the normal sense, but all the same principles and techniques apply. Being clear and convincing. Maybe a bit firm […]
+++ Update +++ Needless to say, mocking Mrs Clinton for barking like a dog (see below) opens a sinkhole of sexism. What drivel. * * * * * My book Speeches for Leaders (signed hard copy available outside North America here) has a whole chapter devoted to the issue of ‘risk’ […]
I am busy on my latest webinar series for international officials on Speechwriting and Talking-Points. I proclaim into my computer and they watch wherever they are around the planet. Haha I tidied the room behind me. One of the core ideas that always strikes home like a thunderbolt in a […]
Here’s my latest piece for DIPLOMAT magazine, on global security or not. It starts with a quote immediately familiar to diligent readers here: WHO SAID THIS (the answer is at the end of this piece)? “Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos … Oh, and you […]
Here is my piece over at Commentator about the emerging ‘settlement’ on the UK’s relationship with the European Union: Even under benign conditions it is next to impossible within the EU to have a limited and controlled treaty renegotiation. Different member states queue up to press their respective cases for […]
One of the worst parts of public speaking for a speaker is not knowing what else is going on while you orate. My book on the subject Speeches for Leaders talks about the perils of e-heckling: It gets worse. Imagine a woman leader giving a serious, substantive speech about global inequalities […]
In the debate last week on the foreign policy success or otherwise of President Obama, I made the point that he had offered Cuba the normalisation of diplomatic relations without pressing for anything (even rhetorically) in return. Why not use this high-profile move to make the case strongly for a […]
