Driving down the M40 to visit my elderly mother today for Mother’s Day, there was a sudden whooshing sound and dazzling lights as my car was swept into hyperspace (a bit like that extended cosmic Star Gate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey.) Or maybe it was a traffic jam, and I […]
A fine article at Devil’s Kitchen reminding us how New Zealand slashed socialism in a series of bold, strong moves (emphasis added): It cost us twice as much to get a poorer result than we did 20 years previously with much less money. So we decided to rethink what we […]
Via The Browser a rather lame article by Jay Rosen arguing that journalists in the USA have become so non-judgmental that they are striving for an impossible professional ‘innocence’ and are just missing the point. By way of evidence he cites a long analysis of the Tea Party tendency in the USA […]
The UK Labour Party are said to be doing rather better in the opinion polls. Crikey. I am baffled that anyone at all would still vote for them. What does it take these days in terms of incompetence to be 100% discredited and thrown down the steps of public opinion? […]
Just to say that those readers who have not yet had a quick look at ADRg Ambassadors – a bespoke new senior mediation, consultancy and training panel comprising various former Ambassadors – should do so. Since our launch in January we have attracted some healthy interest, including from quite unexpected […]
Headlines pouring out over what Sir Michael Wood said this morning to the Chilcot Inquiry: Straw rejected advice that Iraq invasion was ‘unlawful’ Let me give you my potted view of this as a lawyer by training but not practice. The various FCO and other documents (some formerly SECRET) now […]
Edging back to normal life again after three days running around bewinter’d Poland. What a pleasure to be in a country able to cope sensibly with snow. Far from snow is Haiti. Ben Macintyre blames the French for brutalising Haiti into paying ruinous reparations for its temerity in wanting to espouse […]
A group of former senior British diplomats (self included) have come together to set up a new top-end international strategic advice and dispute resolution/dispute management service: ADRg Ambassadors. Here is the website, just launched. Check it out, including the excellent and impressive list of policy areas and languages the team […]
Either the citizens own the state, or the state owns the citizens. In the latter case there are no citizens. Only serfs. The modern state tells us what not to do and sets conditions on what we can do. But it so far has not sought to demand that contracts […]
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 […]
