15th November 2018 Burma
Before starting my posting to Burma, I was frequently asked, “What can an Ambassador actually do in a country like Burma?”. It was a good question! The recent crisis in Rakhine State and the traumas faced by the Rohingya have been widely reported in the news. Less well known are: the violent conflicts in other […]
2nd October 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
When the US walked out of the Council last session, there were plenty of doom-mongers foretelling the multiple ways in which everything would fall apart, drawing on the Council’s darker moments of its stuttering early years, before the US joined. There may be more testing times ahead, but this was the Council’s most successful session […]
24th September 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve often thought that children make the best negotiators. Kids seem to know better than anyone how to stay focussed on what they want and strike home when defences are down. If you ever need a lesson for succeeding in a multilateral negotiation, I’d recommend spending some time observing supermarket check-out queues on a Saturday […]
17th September 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
Over the summer, I have grown a little bit more intolerant. Not to family holidays, heatwaves or even World Cup exits, but to all things dairy. In many countries, this wouldn’t be especially problematic, but in Switzerland, I am having to rethink my breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as my usual Council mood-enhancer – […]
29th March 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
Voting days at the Council have always been stressful, and things don’t seem to be getting any easier with age. The drawback of having been around in these parts for longer than most is that I’m expected to know what I’m doing, especially when it comes to the finer points of the UN’s rules of […]
19th March 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
Since the number of blog followers clamouring for a Council update has now reached single figures (thanks Nuala) I thought I’d better respond. It’s been busy. And cold. But mostly busy. As the 3rd week of the session came to end, UN staff voted to go on strike over impending allowance cuts, which suspended the […]
2nd October 2017 Geneva, Switzerland
Council sessions leave your head spinning. Anyone who gets through one without feeling like it was full body and soul experience wasn’t really there. And it’s particularly trying for the families we abandon to meet the Council’s callous workload. If, like me, you’re lucky enough to have an understanding partner, for the first few days […]
25th September 2017 Geneva, Switzerland
Leaving aside the extremely grim subject matter which forms the basis of our work, one of the things I like the least in my job is having to say goodbye to good people. This summer we bade farewell to another great set of colleagues including the UK’s own James Mclaughlin and the ever wonderful, and […]
11th September 2017 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s been a summer of car-related mishaps. The Swiss do many things well, though they must be among the best in the world when it comes to handing out speeding fines. I managed to pick up two tickets for going 1km and 2 km an hour over the limit and to add insult to injury, […]
3rd July 2017 Kolkata, India
We now have the ability to surround ourselves with images that we record on our mobile phones. But the best images remain in your head. The monsoon rains have arrived in Kolkata. I was in my official car travelling through the city in the middle of a heavy storm last week. We passed an old […]