Here’s my Telegraph piece on the NATO summit in Warsaw. Thus: Poland’s President Duda wonders what President Obama will say to him privately about Poland’s constitutional wranglings. President Obama has his mind on yet more ghastly shootings back home. France’s President Hollande eyes his horrible polling numbers and wonders whether […]
The Chilcot Report saga prompts me into reposting a speech I gave in Germany in 2004 about Iraq, diplomacy and pretty much everything. Here it is in full. Looking back on it now I conclude that it’s too long, repetitive/involved and lacks ‘Structure’. Not clear what two or three key […]
So. Farewell then, Tony Blair’s reputation. The monumental Chilcot Report on the UK’s role in the Iraq invasion is out. Here it is. Several gazillion pages. No-one can or will read it all. But it will remain a vast trove of material for anyone interested in Diplomatic Technique and how […]
Once upon a time when I was UK ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, I was invited to Pale to give a live TV interview to Republika Srpska TV. After I refused to do the interview in a room featuring a picture of war crimes indictee Radovan Karadžić and we went […]
Here’s my first post-Brexit vote piece for the Telegraph that’s been noticed here and there: Now what? In particular, do we leave the European Union, or not? Above all, what’s the Plan? The core possibilities are these: We leave the EU and try to become a sort of European Singapore […]
Blimey. Now what? Some quick thoughts (in the order I think them) on the ensuing negotiation with EU partners as London markets bounce back from the early shock. First and foremost, this is a magnificent momentous day in the global history of democracy. It represents a strong majority of one […]
Here’s the final version (in Polish – thanks Google Translate) of an interview I have given to Wiadomości about sundry Brexit issues. They did not use everything I said (and why should they?). Here’s the full text in case anyone is interested: 1. Both campaigns seem to have indulged in […]
As this tumultuous (or horrible, nasty, revolting, angry, hateful, absorbing, glorious – pick your adjective) UK exercise in referendum democracy nears the end, what about the way the two broad camps have presented themselves? Leave The Leave tendency has struggled to explain exactly what it wants instead of EU membership, and […]
My former FCO colleague the legendary Alyson Bailes alas has died, at the age of 67. Here is her Guardian obituary quoting Sir Kim Darroch: Her flair for languages was remarkable. She spoke and read French, Hungarian, German, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish at what she herself described as […]
Here is a good piece by Tony E about that grim Newsnight programme on Monday: Charles Crawford is a former diplomat, noted for his work in the Eastern Bloc both before and after the fall of Soviet Union. He knows a thing or two about negotiations, was a senior figure […]
