You are probably wondering what is my finest piece of writing about diplomatic life. I ask myself that question. The answer is here. A description for DIPLOMAT magazine of the astonishing sub-culture of Diplomatic Barnacles, those primitive life-forms that cling tenaciously to the local Diplomatic Corps and can never be […]
Here is another DIPLOMAT piece, this time on ‘transitions’ from communism in Europe: Back in the mid-1980s I was the Foreign Office speechwriter working for Sir Geoffrey Howe. Exciting times. Mikhail Gorbachev was leading the Soviet Union in what looked like a strongly positive new direction. In Poland the Solidarity […]
Over at the Guardian in the Business section the penny drops: The idea that the European leaders who have been like rabbits in the headlight for the past two years can mastermind a clean break for Greece is utterly fanciful. The crisis will be messy, painful, prolonged and probably terminal. […]
UPDATE George Monbiot has written to me to point out a mistake in the piece below: I note that in your blog post you say “This is not quite the same as listing his wealth – who knows how many ISAs and the rest he has tucked away, or the […]
I have never in these pages given you an (almost) full account of the expulsion from Moscow of a number of British diplomats back in May 1996 for – the Russians said – spying. This was the first major spy row between Moscow and a ‘Western’ country following the end […]
I have linked here previously to the wonderful smart writings of Professor Kenneth Anderson on some of the moral and legal issues arising from modern warfare. See eg here. He now looks at legal and ethical issues facing (sic) future robot soldiers. See how he starts by cleverly framing the […]
Update I now also have a piece over at Commentator which elaborates on the material below. * * * * * The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has pronounced on a case brought against Russia by a number of Polish relatives of victims of the Katyn Massacres. Even […]
Here is a nifty piece I wrote about ethicability and Moral DNA back in 2010: Does ethicability methodology do justice to the existential moral value of trading, itself an expression of intrinsic human integrity. Take, for example, Love. Many people these days think that compassion/love require the successful to give […]
The general idea behind much of what is called ‘affirmative action’ or ‘diversity’ policy is to help boost the prospects of disavantaged groups. So, for example, in looking at academic potential for prospective students universities might ‘take into account’ wider factors beyond mere exam results, to help give a chance […]
Here is David Allen Green aka Jack of Kent on the subtle subject of when if at all it is right to ‘out’ anonymous bloggers. DAG of course played a leading and clever role in exposing the mendacity of Johann Hari, and has followed that up by helping show how the […]
