Here is a Daily Mail article picking up a Spanish media analysis rating … yes, the planet’s most gorgeous women politicians. Not exactly journalism at its most serious: Oh boy, this is going to get me into terrible trouble with Harriet Harman and her sisterhood. But how come the French have […]
A strange article from the Guardian about the crisis in the British ‘equalities watchdog’ (sic) as one by one senior people jump off – are even hard-core social democrats so appalled by what is happening to their own creations that they are going John Galt? The deliciously named author of this piece Amelia […]
My Blogoir statistics creep upwards nicely, with over 5000 Unique Visitors this month. Most visitors swing by briefly, such being the ephemeral nature of the genre. But up to 10% of visitors browse around for the best part of an hour. Which suggests that they are at least intrigued and/or interested/engaged in what […]
This story of awesome feline squalour (plus one dog) reminded me of Nick Lowe’s song Marie Provost: She was a winner, who became the doggie’s dinner The Wikipedia account of the real Marie Prevost is here, claiming that her dachshund Maxie had not eaten her but nipped at her legs after […]
Rummaging through my career files today I read again the 1997 letter to us from Diana, Princess of Wales expressing thanks for what the Embassy had done to help her on her visit to Bosnia to highlight the dangers of landmines – as it tragically turned out, the last public […]
Former diplomat Simon Dickson has some positive things to say about FCO bloggers following a seminar he attended: How do they assess their success? For a couple, they are among the first bloggers in their respective countries, which should score a few credibility points for UK plc. Some quote instances where […]
Yesterday I was at Trent College near Nottingham to give a talk to pupils on Great Negotiations of Our Time, namely: The Individual v The Collective Knowledge v Belief Today v Tomorrow By way of elucidation for their educational edification I managed to squeeze in Mr Incredible, the Joker, Clint […]
I have been busy tweaking my trail-blazing interview for the British Diplomatic Oral History Programme. This is an exercise in getting senior diplomats to talk for some hours about their life and work and then publish the transcripts for the edification of future generations. Lots of famous names already there, […]
Anne Applebaum says that the Obama/Clinton reset button for US/Russia relations is not working: Anyone who doubts the truth of this need only look at remarks Lavrov himself made last weekend in Brussels … The transcript of his remarks, and those of other Russians attending the same conference, do not capture […]
President Obama’s much-praised message of friendship to Iran got a dusty public response from the Iranians, including some nice imagery: The new US president sends us a Persian New Year greeting message but in the same accuses us again to support terrorism and to be after nuclear weapons," the supreme […]
