You’re wondering what I have been up to in May. I have been rushing around like a whirling dervish. Thus: • a presentation on Difficult Conversations to the senior management of a distinguished school • a talk at my old school on Lessons for Life • fielding a group of […]
The latest European Speechwriters Network event in London has passed off well. Many top names from the world of British and wider speechwriting (Phil Collins, Max Atkinson, Martin and Martha Shovel) and others did their stuff. I was pleased to meet Denise Graveline, over from the USA. She has two […]
I have rambled on here on many occasions about how we all grapple increasingly badly with Complexity. I take my hat off to Kevin Williamson over at National Review Online for this magnificent readable analysis of just that issue. He explains why failure is vital to success, and why no […]
My foray to Geneva last week to give a two-day Speechwriting in Action masterclass to international officials went well: The workshop you facilitated was truly exceptional. The drastic improvement one could observe from one day to another was more than convincing My instincts did not let me down when I […]
So much going on these days it is scarcely worth bothing to opine on it all. The Nigel Lawson call for the UK to think seriously about leaving the EU is a huge shift. The Unthinkable is being Thought. The US and Russia are trying to get the warring factions […]
Here is a towering example of modern American freewheeling public speaking. Bruce Sterling shares with us in a ramblingly insightful way all sorts of ideas and insights about technology and its impact on us. This sort of thing would shrivel and die if you attempted to write it down in advance. […]
I find myself taking a fleeting interest in the goings-on at UNESCO as the time comes round to choose a new Director-General. Never a dull moment there – it is an especially ‘politicised’ UN body. Try this punchy piece about the way the Obama Administration may be manoeuvring to get […]
How many readers have not sat through a truly horrible PowerPoint-style presentation in the recent past? Those precious seconds of your life. Lost. Forever. Luckily I have taken it upon myself to work out exactly why so many PowerPoint presentations end up so awful: The problem lies in the very […]
One of the themes of this blog is the idea of Uncertainty (and indirectly Causation) and how policy responds to it. Take this example: … insofar as this new set of norms or something like them come into force, they will have Consequences. Some of those will, as defined by […]
Swing by National Review Online to catch up on conservative views on President Obama’s visit to Israel and what do you find? Not much. In fact almost nothing. Which goes to show just how strikingly well Obama did in behaving warmly towards Israel. Yes, the ‘optics’ of Obama appearing under […]
