Few people know that I hosted Michael Jackson at the Residence in Warsaw, not too many months before he died. I had not had the pleasure to meet him previously, but despite his evident battle with ill-health we and some of his close friends had an excellent lunch as he told […]
A final thought on that David Miliband speech in Poland. It’s his use of the words ‘must’ and ‘need’. This is what he says the EU ‘must’ do. It must: adapt once again to the changing geopolitical context we face set itself a goal of creating a single, low-carbon, energy […]
Some interesting thoughts on that subject in the Guardian (always a pleasure to see the word desuetude) and Sharpe’s Opinion: Reading between the lines of ‘Smeargate’ (can we really not have a better name) and the expenses scandal, we see Maximus Decimus Meridias removing his helmet and standing up to Commodus. […]
That outstretched hand of US friendship to Iran to join the USA’s 4th of July celebrations round the world? The hand draws back. On the somewhat doubtful (in etiquette/protocol terms) basis that the Iranians have not replied to the invitations. When there is still some time to go before the receptions start? […]
Never mind all this Earth-bound rubbish. How to expand ourselves across the universe? Quickly, or at least exponentially! Not so easy.
My first thought on the Foreign Secretary’s Warsaw speech was that the opening ‘historic passages’ were clunky. This is what happens. The speechwriter is pretty familiar with the broad rhetorical lines of policy on EU issues. But knows nothing about Poland or the UK’s relations with it. So s/he does […]
A question is asked re my previous (peevious?) posting on the Foreign Secretary’s visit to Poland: On david’s grandfather, are you sure he fought with the red army? Are you referring to ralph’s father samuel? Good question. How do I know? I wasn’t there. But rummaging around through Google finds […]
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has visited Poland. Various Foreign Secretaries have swung through Poland for commemorative or other events. But straightforward bilateral visits by British Foreign Secretaries have been few and far between in recent years. None in my time from 2003-2007 (although Jack Straw took part in the […]
An intriguing story (and a cross response) here. Basically, the USA has decided to press on with its new policy of inviting Iranian diplomats to the US 4th of July celebrations (US National Day equivalent) round the world, despite the grisly regime behaviour in Iran itself. As a gesture with a […]
What does something cost? In the biggest, most abstract sense. You buy a bicycle. What are you buying? Not just a bike. The market price includes an element for all the myriad components included. The metals, rubber and paint. The innovation which went into creating those metals and rubber and paint, […]
