This article is fascinating for its Manifest Badness, on so many levels simultaneously. It’s all about: the latest example of a noticeable social trend, one that we shall call, obviously, “dolliness”, after the woman who embodies its spirit. Think of the Spice Girls tour and the Sex and the City […]
Iain Dale urges his vast army of fans to read Total Politics Issue 2 – and one article in particular. Indeed.
My new Total Politics piece is out, full of Helpful Tips about how a new Minister should start to run a government Department. It’s quick to register and you can then see it on the E-zine. More in the pipeline for issues 3 and 4.
One version is here. Some speeches are good for what they say. Others for how they make people feel. This speech said more or less nothing, but reads nicely now and no doubt sounded good on the day. Or maybe not? This paragraph caught my eye: This is the moment […]
Nigel Short has a lively use of words, as well as a lively chess style. See the detailed rulings on his use of the word ‘dunderheads’ to describe two senior chess officials. Defamatory or ‘mere vulgar abuse’? Who said that chess is boring?
I was a great fan of the Balkan ‘yellow press’ in all its exotic glory. Presumably these strange papers and magazines have a non-trivial readership otherwise they would not be published in such profusion. So as Ambassador wanting to develop insight into the thinkings of society as a whole, I […]
Crawford v Murray (if that is what it is) has reached the Evening Standard’s Londoner’s Diary (alas not available on their website): Mandarin puts knife into FO’s loose cannon UNCIVIL war has broken out at the Foreign Office. Charles Crawford, the retired former ambassador to Warsaw, has broken ranks […]
OK, let’s start reviewing Craig Murray’s book Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador’s Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror (Mainstream Publishing, 2007 edition) Where better than the covers? Harold Pinter "salutes a man of integrity" John Sweeney: "An amazing narrative, beautifully written…" John Pilger: "A man of the […]
Back from Brussels to an email from former colleague FCO Craig Murray: Your blog has been discussing me rather a lot lately. May I very politely suggest that you really might look at the book if you are going to give quite such detailed views? It is, of course, only […]
So, our Prime Minister sees himself as some sort of Heathcliff fellow, from Wuthering Heights? Back during the 2005 EU Budget negotiations rumours swirled to the effect that the Blair No 10 team affectionately referred to the then Chancellor as "Mrs Rochester" (ie the mad woman in the attic) from […]
