In a neat example of government ‘spin’ in action, David Miliband’s speech today about Europe is being trailed in this morning’s Guardian. Once upon a time it was a good enough result to get the speech reported after it had happened. That being unreliable, Labour have taken to a high art […]
The problem with making speeches is that quite a lot of things have been said before. So do you strive to say something new? Or do you ‘borrow’ ideas from others..?
The communist parts of the world recycled all sorts of jokes. See a few here, as nicely reviewed here. Some of them maybe emerged elsewhere back in the mists of time and were rebooted for new purposes. Thus: "A Russian proverb: If you see a Bulgarian in the street, beat […]
Back on languages again. Slav languages make a distinction in their verbs between Perfective and Imperfective ‘aspects’. Thus in Russian/Serbian/Polish there are different verb forms denoting (a) when an action has been done and is now complete, and (b) when an action is continuing or repeated. Here is a fairly straightforward […]
At an FCO Leadership event in 2006, a presentation on Globalisation argued that we were now beholding one of the most momentous changes in human history roll out before our very eyes: the addition in only a decade or so of a billion new people to the global jobs market-place. […]
Does it matter if Europe’s population declines faster than in other regions? If it does matter, why does it matter? Here is a neat summary of a few of the issues. I like this line: I can’t shake the idea that the demographic projections are a civilization-wide vote of no […]
The goings-on in Canada over free (or is it free?) speech and the activities of Human Rights Commissions seem complicated to outsiders. So it is helpful to have the whole sorry business explained once and for all.
This AP story about a robotic street-patroller catches the eye. It took a while to invent one. But they were anticipated by Ray Bradbury back in 1951…
Being a speech-writer for a leading politician is not an easy job. I did it for two years, as the FCO official speech-writer for then Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey (now Lord) Howe. Sir Geoffrey set a high standard. He insisted on his texts offering the maximum amount of meaning and unrelenting logic […]
More hi-octane prose from (of course) Camille Paglia bearing down on Hillary Clinton and her prospects. Questions. Camille says this : Furthermore, Hillary’s mythomania and her chameleon-like daily alterations of persona and voice are unsettling. (Even Hillary’s eye colour is fake: she wears blue contact lenses.) No male candidate enjoys […]
