Here is a magnificent speech by Peter Oborne on the collapse of Integrity in British public life, delivered at the Centre for Policy Studies on 4 March. He gets to the heart of many things, including the N-word: We have abandoned the idea that there is an independent reality which […]
At a training session for EU officials the other day on Better Briefing, I put up a Powerpoint slide asking the following Question: What is the Supreme Quality in any Brief? Speed Looks at all angles of the problem Clear, reasonable recommendation Readable Accuracy Facts/Opinions/Recommendations kept separate At-a-glance understandable Honesty/integrity […]
How can the State Department have messed this up? How? No really, how? Hillary Clinton wanted to symbolise a ‘new start’ in US/Russia relations by handing over to Russian Foreign Minister Lvrov a gift of a red button with the Russian word for ‘reset’ on it. Geddit?! They want to reset […]
"I can resist everything except temptation." Oscar Wilde for Minister of Culture in Albania?
My former boss Sir Emyr Jones Parry was put forward to be the new High Representative in Bosnia. But there seems to be a problem. The Russians are unhappy with him, plus the Americans are unhappy with another EU candidate Valentin Inzko from Austria. Poor Bosnia. And Herzegovina. And indeed poor […]
When I was Ambassador in Warsaw and before the FCO embraced blogging with some enthusiasm, I wrote an in-house blog for a couple of weeks. I was limited to 200 words per entry. The FCO kindly have sent me the entries after my Freedom of Information Act request. So, in case anyone […]
According to the Times, the formal recommendation that Senator Kennedy be given an honorary Knighthood came from the British Embassy in Washington. Did the recommendation give the Senator full and glowing credit for (as recorded by the KGB) talking to the Soviet Union to try to thwart President Reagan’s policies? I think we […]
Some broad-brush thoughts from me on this subject in the latest edition of DIPLOMAT magazine. As far as I can see, neither the FCO nor the fledgling EU foreign service give their people any special training or systematic advice on the Ethics and Morality of Diplomacy – rather a strange […]
The Tax Justice Network is a lot of busy people keen on extracting more taxes from all round the planet: … our approach does not fit easily into either of the old political categories of left and right. We do not argue generally for high or low taxes (that is for […]
