President Kaczynski of Poland says that ‘for now’ he will not sign the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. The BBC report describes Kaczynski as "a conservative who has long opposed the reform treaty". But what about this? "I really want ratification." One way or the other, President Kaczynski is good at saying […]
Today I spotted this April piece about the decline and fall of the BBC, from More Intelligent Life: Last Sunday wasn’t the most eventful one in world history. But it wasn’t short of news either. In the United States, the Democratic infighting takes a dramatic new twist with Senator Obama’s […]
One of the most piquant features of the British Parliamentary voting system is that it is so well established and so well analysed that pundits can predict with a high degree of accuracy which MPs will lose their seats for any given % swing of opinion against the government at […]
Serving as HM Ambassador in Belgrade from 2001-2003 I had the task of advising London on how best to handle the aspirations of demands in Montenegro for independence from Serbia. At the time European capitals were just getting over the NATO bombing campaign aimed at ending Milosevic’s appalling rule over Kosovo. So […]
Imagine. You fairly win an auction to buy a house. But having attempted to rig the auction the previous owner will not move out, and starts to attack you viciously when you come to claim the property. Most of the others living on the street and further afield are dismayed, […]
France’s President Sarkozy warns that without the Lisbon Treaty there can be no more EU enlargement. A magnificent example of the mysterious mirror-world of EU negotiating. France of course does not want any more EU enlargement, especially if it includes Turkey. See eg lots of Parliamentary haggling in France over […]
As the UN warns of mass starvation in Zimbabwe the time has come to stop talking about the ‘Zimbabwe elections’ as if they were/are elections. What we are seeing are the deranged throes of a violent gang around and including Mugabe aimed at staying in power at any cost to […]
"You are being hierarchical." "I did not know that that is a perjorative word!" Mark Steyn in full flow.
Sooner or later we may need to ‘think the unthinkable’ and talk to Al Qaida, according to senior UK police officer Sir Hugh Orde, who cites the IRA precedent. Meanwhile Al Qaida is said to be in retreat, according to the head of the CIA: But now, Mr Hayden said, […]
Here is Pat Buchanan rambling on about the utility of talking to dictators. He somehow contrives to say that Poland brought Hitlerian disaster on itself by being a bit too "proud, defiant and heroic", albeit egged on by "insane" British guarantees. All this and more is meant to cast in […]
