In case you want even more on this business about Cameron/India/Pakistan (or even if you do not), read this businesslike piece by Hasan Suroor in The Hindu. It reminds us helpfully of one footling British diplomatic error after another: This is not the first time that a British leader has […]
See the wild reaction on the streets of Karachi, as angry but illiterate crowds protest against the British Prime Minister’s remarks about Pakistan and terrorism Tsk. It should either be Loo’s or Loos’. See also the distinguished role being played in the drama by HM High Commissioner to Pakistan, Adam […]
My piece analysing David Cameron’s high-profile speeches in Turkey and India has attracted some attention, and various well-taken comments. Part of the problem for a speechwriter for a top politician is to work out who the audience is, and craft the words accordingly. Most speeches of any consequence by (say) […]
Years ago when I was at Harvard University on a sabbatical midcareer break, I experimented for the first time with voice recognition software. In those days, the technology had already advanced pretty well. That is to make the system work, you had to load the program on to your PC, then read […]
My recent piece about the feebleness of Peter Mandelson’s speechwriters looked ahead to the coming international tour of David Cameron to see if his people would do a better job. NB folks, what follows is not about policy as such. It’s about speechwriting and diplomatic technique, and the way messages are […]
An ever-alert reader notes that on the B92 website in Serbia I am described as Carls Kroford. Huh? On Charles, the cyrillic alphabet has its own separate letters for our ch sound, one for a ‘hard’ ch and one for a ‘soft’ ch: very roughly the difference between choose-day and Tuesday. […]
My piece at the Independent on the outcome of the Ejup Ganic trial in London provokes the usual flurry of comments: Mr Crawford is one of the morons that manipulated both US and UK foreign policy towards Bosnia in the 1990s. As an officer in the NATO force that arrived […]
You’re seriously ill. The doctor says something like this: You may now need to think about your best options. It looks to us as if you have the following two basic options: Option A: we use the most aggressive medical techniques we can find to try to cure you. But […]
One final reminder, folks. That Total Politics blog popularity contest is coming round again. If you want to vote for your favourite political blogs, check out the rules: Entries are by email and have to include AT LEAST FIVE British blogs, listed in order of preference of up to ten blogs. […]
My piece in the Independent: Belgrade’s application in London looked like a weird attempt to cover everything in political slime to make a specious Serbia-favouring syllogism: All slimy people are guilty All involved in the Yugoslav imbroglio were equally slimy Therefore all were equally guilty – and, by the way, equally […]
