Here is our old friend Robert Fisk showing what a great war reporter he is: I’ve been increasingly discomfited by all these reporters in their blue space-suits, standing among and interviewing the victims of war, who have no such protection. I know that insurers insist correspondents and crews wear this […]
Here’s my new piece over at Huffington Post UK on the ever fascinating subject of Speechwriting and Authenticity (and Spontaneity). It was prompted by this one by Max Atkinson which obliquely referred to my presentation at the recent UK Speechwriters’ Guild event and suggested that I was one of several […]
Off to give some specialist skills training in The Hague on Negotiation, including a session on Ambiguity. A good place to start is UNSCR 242, where differences over the absense of the word ‘the’ in the English version but not the French version continue to bedevil the Middle East peace […]
Warning! This site will be down for maintenance around lunchtime on 14 March. So there we are.
I fear that the Prime Minister was ill-advised to allow his name to be attached to an astonishly bad and strange letter sent to ‘Presidents’ Van Rompuy and Barroso by twelve national EU member state leaders. Parts of it was written by the EU’s version of our old friend the […]
What a nice day. Just had a most positive and friendly email out of the blue from Ivana Nohel, who illustrates my articles for DIPLOMAT magazine. As you can see, she’s very artistic. Here’s an example of her work for a piece I did on War Crimes. And here’s her self-portrait. Whoooooosh!
When we look at the savage ‘cuts’ in public spending (not), why not start at the top? Namely the FCO’s busy anti-bullying industry? This is what you taxpayer suckers are spending your money on! Powerpoint slides for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office describing what to do to avoid bullying or […]
Here’s another truly horrible piece at Social Europe Journal that caught my beady eye. It’s by one Kinga Pozniak (someone of Polish origin no doubt, an anthropologist who lectures at the Western University in London. Not London, England. London, Canada). It’s entitled "Poland’s ACTA Protests – Molecular Change in an unlikely […]
Always fascinating to see self-styled progressives retreating in confusion, trying to cover their errors by (of course) blaming someone or something else. Preferably the Tea Party tendency in the USA. Take John Weeks (economist and Professor Emeritus at SOAS, University of London). Here he is over at Social Europe Journal […]
