18th March 2022
Belgrade, Serbia
A Russian-British journalist friend, speaking on air this week, observed that ‘violence and propaganda go hand in hand’. He suggested that people accept propaganda and lies because of fear, and because the truth is too terrible to contemplate. Perhaps that helps explain the attempts of Russian representatives who had no part in the decision, to […]
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2nd March 2022
Belgrade, Serbia
The world watched with horror as Vladimir Putin ordered his armed forces to launch an unprovoked, unjustified and illegal attack upon Ukraine. People all around the world have witnessed with admiration the extraordinary calm courage shown by the people of Ukraine. As a young diplomat I first travelled to Ukraine in the late 1980s. I was in Moscow […]
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8th February 2021
Belgrade, Serbia
In this strangest of years, international cooperation has taken on a different aspect. Border closures, quarantine and testing regimes have never before been part of my daily diplomatic vocabulary. Though as a well travelled diplomat vaccination has long played a small but important part in my professional life. The world faces a common challenge that […]
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22nd January 2021
Belgrade, Serbia
This is the first blogcast I have recorded for several weeks. This is mainly because I had to travel to the UK for family reasons – a journey that was a story in itself. But there is another reason too. I have been spending my evenings doing an online training course. Diplomacy is a career […]
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21st December 2020
Belgrade, Serbia
My mother was one of four sisters. Her favourite book was also a tale about four sisters, Louisa Alcott’s ‘Little Women’. Right up until the end of her long life, though almost blind, my mother could still read and recognise its famous first line: ‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents’. For many, many […]
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27th November 2020
Belgrade, Serbia
The global skies have been pretty dark metaphorically over past months. They have been pretty gloomy too here literally for much of the time. I’m lucky enough to look out of my window in Belgrade at trees and sky. Sadly though that view is often rather murky, with visibility limited to the great oak trees at the end of my […]
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13th November 2020
Belgrade, Serbia
This has been a solemn week in what has been a desperately sad month in a desperately sad year. On 11 November the UK like many other countries commemorates Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, which originally marked the guns falling silent at the end of the First World War. Every country has its own way […]
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6th November 2020
Belgrade, Serbia
Diplomacy is never a 9-5 job and, however much we like to plan, it is rarely possible to predict exactly how your time will be spent in any given week. The coronavirus pandemic has added to the unpredictability. One thing is certain though: my week will involve drinking a lot of tea. In my blogcast three weeks […]
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30th October 2020
Belgrade, Serbia
Diplomats move house more than most people. We move between countries every two, three or four years. We move backwards and forwards to and from our own countries. Even within our home countries jobs in our foreign ministries may be spread across more than one city. I have lived in six countries outside the UK. Some of my colleagues will have […]
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23rd October 2020
Belgrade, Serbia
This week stories about negotiations have been prominent in the media both in the UK and in Serbia. The history of diplomacy might also be called the history of negotiation. Negotiating is a way of life for diplomats. Whether you are working on a major arms control treaty, opening a new diplomatic mission or drafting a statement […]
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