This afternoon I was briefly on LBC with James Whale who asked some questions about the impact of Wikileaking. My core points ran something like this. All organisations including LBC and firms which LBC listeners worked for had some reasonable expectation of privacy. Governments were no different. Some of the […]
Wikileaker Julian Assange has been answering ‘live’ e-questions via the Guardian. Here he simply runs away from a serious if long question which. by the way, is not from me: I am a former British diplomat. In the course of my former duties I helped to coordinate multilateral action against […]
Back from Mauritius this morning after a gruelling 18-hour journey. It’s nippy in this grey country after the balmy tropics. When I recover I’ll start giving you some thoughts on the Wikileaks business – enough material there to keep an ex- diplomat blogger in business for a few decades. In the […]
While I am away, swing by Spiegel Online for an optimistic analysis of the underlying strength of the Eurozone by Sven Böll: European governments are serious about austerity, while in the US there is no sign of how President Barack Obama plans to get his country’s trillion-dollar deficit under control. […]
As England groans under snow and howling icy gales, I am heading for Mauritius. On a training expedition for a UN organisation. ADRg Ambassadors have been asked to give their senior officials some expert training in Diplomatic Skills (Making an Impact) and Negotiation (Reaching the Deal). What are so-called diplomatic […]
Here’s a question. How do you attack a highly protected Iranian computer system not linked to the Internet? Here’s the (obviously well briefed) answer. A virus which does all sorts of ingenious things in sequence, very fast, and without being spotted… In case you’re thinking about having a go yourself, […]
These Britblog Roundups are getting erratic. This one, for example, is a week late. The previously scheduled one never appeared. Nonetheless, pressing on, let’s start with what really matters. The arrival of British fish and chips in Poland. An unapologetic feminist and trade union activist is unimpressed with […]
Developing the theme of correct punctuation, reader jdmyeepa steers us to this superb essay about the Philosophy of Punctuation by Paul Robinson, who used to keep goal for Tottenham (and alas England) but then became a prominent American intellectual. Or maybe it’s two separate P Robinsons. Whatever. Anyway, this deft […]
Remember Eclipse by Pink Floyd, which concludes Dark Side of the Moon? The album famously finishes with a mumbled extract from some words of the recording studio doorman, Gerry O’Driscoll: There is no dark side in the moon, really. Matter of fact it’s all dark. The only thing that makes it look […]
