I have been quietly pestering the FCO about the spelling mistakes on their many websites. They have responded well to an FOI request about the rules/guidance they put round on website standards, sending me various papers. This guidance is pretty good, apart from one 100% incoherent sentence – just a […]
Max Atkinson has picked up my comment as posted on his site about what makes a speech memorable and had a look at the famous speech by Sir Geoffrey Howe seen as a pivotal moment in the events which led to Mrs Thatcher’s resignation as Prime Minister. He asked if […]
Dan Hannan MEP has delivered a blow to Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a terse but sharp address in the European Parliament which has been picked up on YouTube and seen by hundreds of thousands of people: Dan is well on the libertarian end of the political spectrum in the UK, so it […]
Yes. The FCO has taken no action to amend the absurd spelling error on its Promote a low carbon, high growth, global economy webpage. The FCO is still hard at work Proteccting Asia’s rain forest (sic). The page also invites readers to link to latest case studies on our work on […]
At a training session for EU officials the other day on Better Briefing, I put up a Powerpoint slide asking the following Question: What is the Supreme Quality in any Brief? Speed Looks at all angles of the problem Clear, reasonable recommendation Readable Accuracy Facts/Opinions/Recommendations kept separate At-a-glance understandable Honesty/integrity […]
I did not make the Orwell Prize ‘longlist’. Sigh. You’re right. I am twisted and bitter about it. A good number of the blog entries submitted by the Longlist winners have little if anything to do with politics, and in certain cases little if anything to do with good writing. […]
David Miliband’s protocol problems in India (the risk or otherwise of annoying senior Indian interlocutors by being too ‘familiar’) raise an interesting operational point. What is the role of the in-country Ambassador in such circumstances? In particular, how far should he/she go to brief the visiting Minister on how to […]
Is the best hope for mass communication in a globalised world a boiled-down version of the English language called Globish? A Frenchman Jean-Paul Nerriere has been trying to codify this phenomenon into some 1500 words and simplified expressions. The crafty French sub-plot seems to be to concede a historic linguistic defeat […]
An enticing new business opportunity arrives in my Inbox: Dearest One, My late father deposited 6.5millon dollars in finance company hear in Cote d’lvory, before he die, for on-word transfer aborad through diplomatic cargo for investment purpose, This is an a confidential matter to be delt with carefulness to enable us understand […]
Does a new career beckon? I was asked today to help craft a speech for a leading actress to use in addressing a small gathering for a good cause. Done. There must be lots of celebrities out there needing some deft light-touch words of this sort to draw on, but […]
