Take this story leading in the Telegraph this morning: Downing Street is at the centre of a fresh security scare after it emerged that private emails written by one of Gordon Brown’s senior officials had ended up in the hands of one of Britain’s most controversial political bloggers. The emails, […]
Some Good Friday thoughts. Most people (including until yesterday myself included) do not know that it is only quite recently that the USA established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican, namely in 1984 under President Reagan. The issue was controversial in US domestic terms and even provoked litigation. Did establishment […]
Welcome Britblog Roundup fans to the first BBRU hosted here on my site. To get into the right frame of mind in compiling the roundup I decided to look back to 20 February 2005. On that momentous day Tim Worstall launched the first ever Britblog Roundup. Here it is. […]
Here is the mighty Richard Posner looking at some Big Picture economic issues. A good passage about ‘rational’ descision-making: If rationality means omniscience, then it is indeed an unsound premise for economic reasoning. If it means reasoning unaffected by emotion, then it misunderstands emotion. The word "emotional" has overtones of […]
I sat in this evening on a lively discussion at the Adam Smith Institute on Politics and the Blog. The lead speakers were Guido and John Redwood – a contrast in style and substance. Among those I recognised with my ebbing eyesight were Brian Micklethwait, Tim Worstall, Dr Helen Szamuely and […]
Yesterday I was at Trent College near Nottingham to give a talk to pupils on Great Negotiations of Our Time, namely: The Individual v The Collective Knowledge v Belief Today v Tomorrow By way of elucidation for their educational edification I managed to squeeze in Mr Incredible, the Joker, Clint […]
Rummaging through the Internet I hit upon this excellent claim made in the French media, dating back to 1810: This is the custom of the British Cabinet – to give their diplomatic missions to the most foolish and senseless persons the nation produces. The English diplomatic corps is the only […]
Here is a reasonable-sounding assessment by Jonathan Freedland of the early days of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy: That same official explained it to me like this yesterday: "The Bush administration hindered its own efforts by tying one hand behind its back. Diplomacy is a tool, but they viewed it […]
The Adam Smith Institute has invited Guido, John Redwood MP and Alex Barker to address an evening seminar on the theme Politics and the Blog. Be there. Or be square.
When I was Ambassador in Warsaw and before the FCO embraced blogging with some enthusiasm, I wrote an in-house blog for a couple of weeks. I was limited to 200 words per entry. The FCO kindly have sent me the entries after my Freedom of Information Act request. So, in case anyone […]
