UPDATE Welcome Guido readers. This (below) was written before the Smolensk disaster. My considered thoughts on Lech Kaczynski and what his death means for Poland will follow. * * * * * Always a pleasure to penetrate deep into Guardian territory and plant a different flag. As here today, where […]
Denis returns to the charge in a comment on my previous posting: I think Charles gives the game away when he says he will vote Conservative. I campaign against Islamist bigotry and regularly criticise Iran and other oppressive majority Muslim nations in the House of Commons. But the notion that […]
Update Welcome Guido readers. And see below a comment from Denis M himself. To which I have replied here. * * * * * Here is former FCO Minister Denis MacShane in full electoral rant against the Conservatives’ links with exotic foreigners: … the judgment call of David Cameron in […]
Update Greetings Iain Dale readers. And see Denis’s reply in the comments below, where he promotes Old Etonian literary prowess – and (wisely) changes the subject. I’ll respond to that later today. Now here. * * * * * Denis MacShane is genial and complimentary (as ever) but unrepentant in […]
As any fule kno, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski is married to Anne Applebaum, seriously distinguished writer/commentator/historian. So when Radek failed to get selected as Citizens Platform candidate to run for Polish President later this year, what else could Anne do but write a short piece about what it’s like […]
I twice have written on this site about one of the most remarkable nights of my FCO career. This posting – my first ever published on this site – described how I single-handedly as FCO Resident Clerk crushed press freedom in Scotland late one night. And then this more recent […]
For all those of you rightly obsessed with Malta and Bosnia, let’s not forget that Poland has a Presidential election again this year. These happen every five years. A President may serve only two terms. So, question. Will President Lech Kaczynski win again? His first victory in 2005 came when […]
Reaction from around the world to my unfortunate collision with Malta is flooding in. Such as this link sent from the USA to Maltese proverbs. For example:
Over at Business and Politics. Thus: Remember the Bible parable of the Prodigal Son? He squandered his fortune but saw the error of his ways and crept back home. He was warmly welcomed by his father, who explained the significance of his repentance to an older brother unimpressed by the […]
Yesterday in London I was on the stage at the Polish Cultural Centre in West London for a discussion about Solidarity – Thirty Years After. Others on the panel were Wladyslaw Frasyniuk (former top Solidarity activist and former political prisoner turned politician) – someone whose lively intelligence has left him […]
