Just when you were thinking that I am a lone voice among former British diplomats lamenting the plummet in intellectual coherence and standards within the New Labour FCO, here is another one. He has sprung into action after seeing this strange article by David Miliband in the New Statesman in which […]
Today a belated Seasons Greetings card made it to my door. It came from ‘all at Binani House’. It had been addressed to me at the Britsh Embassy in Belgrade. To judge by the envelope it indeed reached the Embassy and was processed in Security (zdravo Zorane!) then forwarded back […]
Is deftly hosted by Liberal England. Look out for a Besomy Bletherer’s views on the lost art of Thankyou Letters. And more suppression of free speech, this time connected with the University of Liverpool. Not easy to follow what is happening if you are not following what is happening, but […]
David Aaronovitch writes eloquently about what he sees as the hypocrisy of all sorts of people who deny gayness in Africa (and elsewhere): …are there no gays in Malawi or Uganda and have there been none, in any significant sense, throughout African history? Is it just now, as a product […]
In the Times Dominic Lawson is unimpressed by the tone of UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband in talking about Iran and China: Our diplomatic war of words with Iran is brewing nicely. Last week the foreign secretary, David Miliband, condemned as “disturbing” the Ahmadinejad regime’s “lack of restraint” in its […]
The popular rising in Iran against its revolting regime is gaining momentum. But will that be enough? A good WSJ piece on the Big Picture: Much has been written about the fact that Iran’s democratic movement today combines the three characteristics of a velvet revolution—nonviolent, nonutopian and populist in nature—with […]
Is hosted by the raging Mr Eugenides. He kindly links to a couple of postings by the "ever-readable" me. But also have a look at a stirring defence of bullet points. And a Cheese-like look at the issues surrounding the outing of a blogger in Scotland. Plus home-schoolers are rising en […]
As the myriad delgates wend their various snowy ways from the Copenhagen Global Warming Summit, what is the overall assessment? Not UN, but UM. Unambiguous Mess. Key aspects of the whole thing were a priori perverse from a Basic Diplomatic Technique point of view. Let’s audaciously and even hopefully assume that the science is […]
Who said this? In 1989 I made a trip to England. I was hosted by Prime Minister [Margaret] Thatcher at her residence at Chequers for official talks and she invited me personally up to the attic. There, in the attic of this ancient, ancient palace, there were many antique relics […]
Let’s pull together some news about the UK Foreign Office in the word’s first blogged FCO Roundup. Or is the news that it has … gone AWOL? * * * * * What has the FCO to say about the elections in Honduras? Not much. HM Government do not have […]
