Part of the general problem we face these days is knowing what anything is. As we get better at looking at things on quite different scales, down to sub-atomic tininess, different patterns emerge. What looks like a solid, recognisable, definable thing turns out to be system of systems of systems. A lot […]
Here is an unusually astute piece by Aaron David Miller at Foreign Policy looking at key negotiation mistakes made at the 2000 Camp David Peace Talks which he followed at first hand. You’ll need to read the whole thing to get the breadth of his argument. What is good is […]
DIPLOMAT magazine has had a snazzy website upgrade. One result appears to be that for the time being you can’t find work by contributor (eg me) now. You have to scroll through each issue to see what has been posted on the site. Action is in hand to change that, I […]
Recently I gave a session to a group of feisty 12-year olds (incl Crawf Minima) on the general subject of Public Speaking. I hit upon a truly magnificent formula, drawing on the idea that it’s always good to take along a ‘thing’ to a talk to illustrate the point and […]
Walter Russell Mead produces smart analysis and informed wisdom at a rate that puts the rest of us to shame. He blogs at The American Interest. Try any of his recent pieces and marvel at the breadth of his knowledge and insight. This one on the problems facing Europe caught […]
I have not been writing much here or anywhere else. Too busy trying to survive and attending the latest Oxford Programme on Negotiation event. Last night BBC reporter and troubleshooter Lyse Doucet gave a spirited talk to the Programme about international mediation. I of course disagreed with quite a lot […]
Should there be a UK referendum on our EU membership? If so, when? The answers these days divide neatly: Yes! Now! Maybe. But if we do, let’s choose the right moment and the right question! That latter view of course enrages anyone inclined to the former view as a piece […]
Here’s a story I haven’t told before. Back in the Moscow Embassy in 1994 or thereabouts a bizarre telegram arrived from London. The EU had to negotiate aluminium trade quotas with the new Russia and the EU team was coming to Moscow to do so. But, unusually, the EU aluminium boffins […]
The issues of privacy (not) arising from micro-drones spiral off into unfathomable moral complexity. That future is so now. You want a little device to zoom more or less silently through the air and hover at a handy distance to watch what is going on in your neighbour’s bedroom (or maybe your […]
Compare and contrast two brilliant pieces up on Browser. This one about the momentous moments leading up to Dwight Eisenhower’s decision to launch the invasion of Normandy – 2,000,000 people (mostly men) ‘poised like a coiled spring’, waiting to surge bravely across the English Channel to attack the well-entrenched Nazi forces. […]
