The FCO like all British government departments these days emits profusely all manner of Targets, Strategies, Strategic Priorities, Objectives, Road-maps, Performance Indicators and the rest. Yet amidst all this feverish management-babble designed allegedly to measure and assess Outputs and Outcomes there is very little about one vital and time-consuming job […]
Diplomats and the media like to talk a lot about Stability. Stability is good, instability is not. They maybe have a point. Not much good usually comes out of heavy political instability. Unless it is the overthrow of a bad regime or dictator, in which case it is not instability […]
Once upon a time the FCO did not have its ‘24/7 Response Centre’. It had a Resident Clerk. Not a single person, but a group of London-based diplomats at First Secretary level who took it in turns to work once a week at night, perched in a room awash in faded glory high […]
