6th August 2012
I read an article last week by a French philosopher and economist drawing a parallel between Britain and Japan as “Islands of Isolation.” His theme was that both countries remain inward- looking and preoccupied with the disintegration of their original culture. I can’t speak for Japan, but anyone who watched the magnificent opening ceremony of […]
22nd July 2012
In ancient Greece, where the Olympic Games originated, there was a sacred tradition that warring city states would lay down their arms to allow athletes to compete in the Games. Warlords were unable to take the opportunity of teams crossing their territory to score points against their enemies, or take sportsmen hostage. Greeks could concentrate on sport, […]
11th July 2012
Watching the Wimbledon tennis championships last week reminded me of the old Scouts motto: “Be Prepared”. It demonstrates yet again that preparation is the key to success. We not only saw the players thrashing the ball at each other on Centre Court, but also saw snippets of their painstaking preparations, spending hours every day honing […]
27th June 2012
This week the British airline easyJet named one of their aircraft “Petra 200” commemorating the time 200 years ago when the first Western tourist, Burckhart visited Petra. easyJet have given very few of their 204 planes names, so this was a rare event. It was also an event of great significance. easyJet is the biggest airline […]
14th June 2012
The man was clearly traumatised after crossing the border from Syria. His eyes wide, he told us that he had seen his sister and her seven children murdered by regime thugs. Another man told us with tears about the way he and his family were stopped at a check point and the Syrian army took his daughter away and […]
31st May 2012
This weekend sees an outburst of national emotion in the United Kingdom as we celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee. It will be done in style: a four-day holiday weekend will see a pageant of 1,000 boats sail down the River Thames including a specially designed royal barge, a concert at Buckingham Palace with some of the […]
21st May 2012
The Olympic flame arrived in Britain last week ready for the London 2012 Olympics. It is now on a journey round the British Isles that will take it within reach of the vast majority of the country’s population. The message is clear: Sport for All. The flame was lit in Ancient Olympia where the tradition of […]
7th May 2012
What’s the collective noun for Ambassadors? A canapé of diplomats? A gang? A horde? Or just a corps? Hopefully not a corpse! Perhaps a Cocktail of Ambassadors, but that risks feeding the erroneous perception of diplomats as pleasure-seeking, gin-and-tonic swilling, expense-account nonentities. Which is far from the truth. Google failed to provide an answer. Most […]
23rd April 2012
The Jordanian parliament is debating a new law to regulate political parties. The law is part of a package of measures to implement the government’s commitment to political reform. The long term aim is to meet His Majesty’s vision of a small number of parties with programmes based on ideology to the right, left and […]
12th April 2012
Some people think that diplomats spend much of their time eating and drinking. If only they knew how much time is spent answering emails and managing budgets. But certainly lunches and dinners are among the essential tools that a diplomat uses to get to know people and to understand the country he or she is […]