Here is my latest article for DIPLOMAT magazine – a review of David Owen’s fine new book on the diplomatic origins of the First World War. Thus: Readers of Diplomat will enjoy – and be startled by – many details Lord Owen gives us about diplomacy as practised a century […]
Things have slackened off again here, what with one thing and another. But here is the hefty piece I wrote about Ukraine last week for the Daily Telegraph. To be precise, I did not write it. I dictated it into my iPad from my hotel room in Gjakova (also known […]
Long time no blog. Family, Christmas, weather, website upgrades, more weather. the usual. Here I am in my most recent DIPLOMAT piece, on East v West and the benefits or otherwise of the Asian Model of Development: For most of the past 100 years or so, it looked as if […]
My latest piece for Telegraph Blogs looks in (very) broad terms at Ukraine: In 1994 the EU Ambassadors had a meeting in Moscow at which they opined on the then reforms under President Yeltsin. The Belgian Ambassador grumbled that Russia was just too big, too communist and too “Asian” to […]
A Polish friend draws my attention to this speech by FCO Minister of State David Lidington. It’s all about the European Union, delivered to a senior French audience earlier this week. Read the whole thing. To me as a speechwriting technician there’s something oddly ‘thin’ about it. It ticks the […]
Here is another article fretting feebly over the fact that the European Union is ‘punching below its weight’ in global negotiations: Although the EU is a minority bloc within the General Assembly and Human Rights Council (HRC), its power resources could in principle be wielded to help the EU gain […]
This wonderful piece by Helena Morrissey is potentially a national debate-shifter. It says more or less everything I think about why the European Union is a fading force (my emphasis): My personal experiences of dealing with the EU on issues I am involved with have served to reinforce my view […]
The latest European Speechwriters Network event in London has passed off well. Many top names from the world of British and wider speechwriting (Phil Collins, Max Atkinson, Martin and Martha Shovel) and others did their stuff. I was pleased to meet Denise Graveline, over from the USA. She has two […]
Here’s my Commentator piece on that important Serbia/Kosovo/EU deal. Thus: Kosovo did better on symbolism than substance. It won agreement that Serbian officials in the municipalities concerned would henceforth be paid by Pristina, not Belgrade, and come under Pristina’s overall legal and political authority. And by the very fact of […]
Have a look at this magnificent AJ interview from late 2011 with Jin Liqun, head of China’s Sovereign Wealth Fund. The whole thing is impressive for Jin Liqun’s steely logic and sense of effortless authority. But it moves into overdrive at 11.40 or so when he starts to talk about […]
