The IISS has established the Shangri-La Dialogue as a major annual piece in the jigsaw of military international life. Soldiers are humans, too, and their voice and approach to the world of competitive cooperation we call diplomacy is as important as anyone else’s. To play their part, their voices must be heard. To be heard,…
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And now a story for the very young – at least in heart… Mr & Mrs Tipperary were keen on a large family. The Irish like large families generally. In their case they wanted to keep the name going. It was in danger of being lost – all the children from the previous generation had…
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The BBC has a formidable history of impartial, verified news coverage worldwide, broadcast in good English and with comprehensible diction. Lord Reith set some high standards, suitable for their time, which have been modified and adapted to the changing world in which they now operate. Many of the world’s greatest reporters have been ‘BBC developed’.…
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The increasing divide within what can broadly be called the ‘western’ camp – people and societies you might expect to be critical of Russia – can be substantially attributed to one word “Unprovoked”. One side thinks Russia’s attack on Ukraine was unprovoked. From the limited knowledge of the situation that I have, I think this,…
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Life is not a Roman Road, straight from point A to point B. Those who live it this way end up at point B but they see no difference between that and the point from which they started. What, indeed, is the point of that? While not wishing to bring the logic of the American…
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On 25 May 1941 Churchill called my father to his office. My father ran the North Atlantic convoys shipping essential supplies between the United States and Britain. It had been my father’s birthday two days before but the Prime Minister had not called him to deliver good wishes. The war was not going well for…
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Very grateful to Kowling Lee for the splendid pix Have you read John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”? It’s a book that made a huge impression on me when I was a child and continues to do so ninety years later. A gripping story, it combines a deeply held philosophy about the nature of mankind…
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The rapid pace of artificial intelligence development has precipitated crises of truth, of fact, of reasoning, of responsibility and of survival in anything resembling our present nature. It poses a problem of governance we are beginning to try to answer before we understand the question. Governance of AI from a purely legal point of view…
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The names are changed to protect those who might think they are innocent The Story’s Bare Bones A senior US consultant is recruited to augment an Asian Regional Office. His skills suit their needs like a glove suits a hand. He takes to his role as a ferret to a rabbit warren. His successes are…
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A goat sent into the wilderness after a Jewish chief priest symbolically laid people’s sins upon it Self-awareness is what makes us human. It is an essential part of a happy, balanced life. A frank and honest appraisal of yourself from time to time is a healthy, life-enhancing exercise. Staring at yourself all the time…
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