This is a fascinating account of Thomas Jefferson’s time in Paris as an early US diplomat before the French Revolution: an article written in 1872. Many striking points of interest and insight. Such as Benjamin Franklin’s view of Diplomacy: Benjamin Franklin’s excellence being, that he conducted the intercourse of nationson […]
This time a curious and very unastonishing piece in the Spectator by Martin Bright, which uses as some vital evidence Craig Murray’s long-lost fleeting relationship with Kaminski in the mid-1990s. I have posted a comment suggesting that media bunnies might like to ask David Miliband three questions: did No 10 […]
A zany but prominent piece in this morning’s Guardian, asserting that the newspaper has been ‘prevented for reporting Parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds’: Today’s published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has […]
Looking at the way Thomas Jefferson set about his work representing the new United States of America in France in the years immediately leading up to the French Revolution, I came across a fine observation. Jefferson over in London was taken aback by the ribald anarchy of the British press: […]
Reader Norman Fraser (not clear to me which of the many NFs out there) writes: I am amazed at how intellectually short-winded most of your posts are. I deduce from the tone and context he does not mean this as a compliment. Although would being intellectually long-winded be much better? I […]
One of the typical BBC-style clever retorts to those who say that our language is not declining goes thus: Languages evolve, as we all know. They have to. Duh. English now is far removed from the language of Henry I. If technology and texting and the rest are causing English […]
Another part of my foraging for witty things to say about Diplomacy has involved exploring this magnificent official FCO tract from 1965: Restricted Guidance to Diplomatic Service and other Officers, and Wives or some "do’s" and "don’ts" of Diplomatic Etiquette and other relevant matters Almost every page is a time-machine […]
Here is the citation for President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. One line stands out: His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population. Huh? […]
Here is a post by Bloggers Circle member Bracknell Blog complaining in not altogether coherent terms about the fact that an England national team World Cup qualifier football match is be available to a wider audience only by a pay-to-view Internet service: So why is this not being reported as […]
Just back from manoeuvres in Liverpool, addressing this years’s Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (the gathering of leading public schools, primarily for boys) most ably led this year by Andrew Grant from my old school. My zany theme was Why Stupidity Should Be Taught In Schools, a subject on which I felt […]
