25th March 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Last autumn, Pixie – our much loved cat (and subject of a 2015 blog trilogy) – fell seriously ill. After a week in pet hospital, the vets advised that she needed an urgent blood transfusion to survive. Except they didn’t have any cat blood in stock, so they asked if I could round up some […]
5th December 2016 Riyhad, Saudi Arabia
In a fast changing world, enduring relationships built on trust and common interests matter. This year we celebrate 100 years of UK relations with Saudi Arabia, where I currently live and work, and an amazing 200 years of relations with Bahrain, my first posting as a baby diplomat 35 years ago and host to this […]
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25th September 2014 Beirut, Lebanon
For a week every year, the world’s foreign policy elites relocate to New York for the annual jamboree of statecraft, the UN General Assembly. The pace is frantic – diplomatic speed-dating. But it matters. The UN may not be perfect, but no-one has yet come up with a better idea for global coexistence. It matters […]
1st July 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s been a difficult month. Like many other Council goers I’ve been trying to find enough time for the essential trinity of work, family and football. This is a struggle at the best of times but I feel that however many late-night shifts I’ve put in trying to make time for my council workload, my […]
30th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
Council sessions are bad for your health. So bad, in fact, that I’m thinking of inviting colleagues from the World Health Organisation along to the next session to see if they agree with me that all delegates should be issued with a health warning so that they can take suitable precautions at the outset. The […]
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10th October 2012 Beirut, Lebanon
Eisenhower said that if you can’t fix a problem, you should make it bigger. Lebanon is trying to fix a big problem – preventing the violence from Syria tipping it into instability. So far, it is doing well, and as I’ve argued, should not be fatalist about external factors (mindsoupblog). But for a country that […]