Every so often in a career, you encounter someone who makes a lasting impression, who shapes the way you think and who you feel you would like to emulate. For me, Sir John Chilcot was just such a man. As the MOD’s Director Chilcot - possibly the only role in Whitehall named after an individual [...]
As we all now know, Dominic Cummings’ evidence to Parliament yesterday was something of a bombshell - an account of a political leadership beset by ill-preparedness, detachment and complacency. Ill-equipped to deal with a crisis of this magnitude. Perhaps the best single word to describe the Johnson administration’s performance throughout is ‘hapless’. Not stated explicitly [...]
The Union Jack has been in the news a lot recently, and not for vexillological reasons. Fun with Flags, you might say, but there’s something serious going on here. National symbols, love of country and loyalty to it - these aren’t trivial issues. They pertain to the very fabric of our or any other nation. [...]
My previous blog, about being a British European, led to an extended conversation on Twitter about my contention that the European Union has made a major contribution to peace in Europe since 1945. I welcome the challenge, because it made me explore even more deeply my thinking on the subject. My Twitter correspondent couldn’t see [...]
The festive season is upon us and, in the shadow of Covid and the imminent advent of 'final Brexit', I’m not at all sure what mood to strike. As we near the end of 2020, a year without much of a fan following, what can we anticipate in 2021? Whatever your religion or belief, midwinter [...]
A very long time ago, I used to commute into London from a long way out. Sometimes at the end of the working day, I’d find all the trains back home severely delayed or cancelled. Usually, there was little or no information about what was going on, and I would stand there feeling stressed, powerless [...]
We’ve all read about Sir Alex Allan’s recent report concerning whether the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, broke the Ministerial Code. It centres on allegations of bullying, and ironically the story broke during Anti-Bullying Week. I don’t want to get into the specifics of the Patel case here, but I do want to say a few [...]
My apologies, but I couldn't resist adding something to the wall-to-wall coverage of the US Presidential Election that we've all been immersed in over recent days. My question, in the wake of the election outcome, is: what significance does ‘Make America Great Again’ have in the foreign policy context? ‘MAGA’ is a term to which [...]
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