I have written at length here and else where about the moral and policy challenges arising from engagement with wicked regimes elsewhere in the world. See this piece in January about the lawsuit against former MI6 officer Sir Mark Allen over his alleged role in ‘rendition’ to Libya: In the real world […]
Here is a scary piece at the Telegraph bewailing the supposed decline in British diplomats’ foreign language skills. Which draws on some information extracted from the FCO by a Parliamentary Question. And quotes me: Charles Crawford, the former British ambassador to Poland and a speaker of Serbian, Russian, Afrikaans and French has […]
In response to my pieces earlier today about the FCO’s language training policies, this trenchant message has arrived from a reader (edited a tad for anonymity purposes and published here with the author’s consent): I read your blog and comments about the Telegraph’s article on the FCO’s foreign language abilities (or […]
The general idea behind much of what is called ‘affirmative action’ or ‘diversity’ policy is to help boost the prospects of disavantaged groups. So, for example, in looking at academic potential for prospective students universities might ‘take into account’ wider factors beyond mere exam results, to help give a chance […]
One Ann Kittenplan sees some sort of equivalence between ‘tax avoidance’ and benefit fraud: see her comments on my post about the moral vacuum that is Graham Norton, including: I do have a problem with unfairness… a) what are the relative costs to the economy of benefit fraud, tax avoidance, […]
Imagine you’re a senior executive. Then imagine that you have a Problem. You have to address a major conference in SE Asia next week. Public speaking is not your favourite thing. You need some serious senior advice about local sensibilities to make sure you make no ghastly gaffes. Plus the presentation […]
Here’s a short piece by Raedwald on little wooden doll stereotypes of Polish Jews: But this trip, for the first time, I briefly explored the old ghetto, and visited one of the old synagogues, where I listened briefly to a young American woman talking history to a small group. She offered […]
I have written something for Telegraph Blogs about Trust in Europe (and scorpions). I’l put up the link when there is one. It refers to this piece by Matthias Machnig, which, strive as I do, I simply cannot understand: Economic growth has reached the limits of what is ecologically viable. […]
Here is Francis Fukuyama giving gracious words about James Q Wilson, a towering US political scientist who recently died. I was pleased to see him take up some of the many ideas which featured in one of Professor Wilson’s many masterworks, Bureaucracy, which I urge you to buy if you […]
Over at the Commentator I have been offering some thoughts on grammar and good English: What to make of this claim that grammar lacks "encoded rules"? First, the trivial logic point. It does not follow that because a language evolves and is necessarily always changing, there is not at any […]
