There one is, pushing one’s little godson round the back streets of Lewes, amazed at his genius as he points things out along the way. And then, suddenly, he has grown up and his first full-length film is launched. Rob Cannan and Corinna Villari-McFarlane have produced an impressive debut movie, […]
Mark Steyn’s claim to be a one-man global content provider is justified not only by the verve of his gloomy analyses of society, but also by his magnificent knowledge of the popular music business (gained in part from his earlier time as a hospital DJ and then theatre critic). Does […]
Last year I wrote some pieces about How to Negotiate. These and other pieces with an implicit or explicit Negotiation theme are linked here. Such as this one: It does not follow that being bloody-minded or even threatening force actually works. So much depends on context, the objective balance of […]
A lively piece in the Guardian by Bonnie Greer about the all-pervasiveness of Racism. She lays into one and all, but especially her fellow leftists: I cringed during the campaign at the drooling of male broadcasters over the candidate’s physique; the "cool black guy" envy many of them subliminally expressed […]
Here (h/t Skeptical Bureaucrat) is an interesting report about apparent self-censorship among US diplomats going back some years: One diplomat told The Washington Times that he has decided to resign in part because of frustration with "rampant self-censorship" by Foreign Service officers and their superiors that has gone so far […]
Picking up the theme of the previous posting, I might add that after the St Albans School prize giving this week a smart young pupil asked me for a couple of lessons learned from my diplomatic career. Gulp. Where to start? I offered only this one. Back in Belgrade in 1981/82 […]
The Total Politics list of the Top 300 UK political blogs is here. I have sunk to place 196 from 161 last year. Craig Murray has soared to 95 from 145. Aaargh. The methodology of this survey was curious this year, with people being expected to list ten blogs to […]
This week I distribute the prizes as guest of honour at my old school, St Albans School. St Albans School is one of the oldest schools in the world. Thirteenth oldest in fact. It was founded in 948 by the Abbot Ulcinus, whom I recall with affection. He was an […]
Researchers and experts have been studying the history of fairy tales and have traced different versions of Little Red Riding Hood all round the planet and back into history: Whilst the European version tells the story of a little girl who is tricked by a wolf masquerading as her grandmother, […]
President Obama gave his speech on Wall Street today. This was the bit I really liked: Unfortunately, there are some in Congress who are misreading this moment. Instead of learning the lessons of the crisis from which we are still recovering, they are choosing to ignore them. They do so […]
