Charlescrawford

LATEST ARTICLES ( 189 )

• Who Else But ...?

  But, as with so many other things, Obama always gives the vague impression that routine features of humdrum human existence are entirely alien to him. Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Obamacare - On The Rocks

  We Brits are bemused by the Obamacare saga in the USA. The overwhelming mass of Brits (including me) have no idea at all how the national health service actuall... Read more

  Posted on 15 November 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Carlsen Takes The Lead

  A horrible new addiction enters my life: live World Championship Chess. The Anand/Carlsen matchg is being played in India, but now you can watch it live on the... Read more

  Posted on 15 November 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Diplomatic Skills Training and Technique

  Over at the Ambassador Partnership we are busy developing our corporate diplomacy Technique portfolio. The broad offering is now something like this: Impact... Read more

  Posted on 14 November 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Iran - The Psychology of Trust in Negotiation

  My latest piece at Commentator is up, this time about Iran and why it is so difficult to build trust: Have sanctions against Iran worked as intended, by... Read more

  Posted on 14 November 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Syria - The Agony Drags On Indefinitely

  My latest piece for DIPLOMAT is up, this one on Syria. A subject about which I know nothing at all, not that that stops me saying something about it, and failin... Read more

  Posted on 14 November 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Eavesdropping and Diplomacy Meet Goldilocks

  My creative juices are at a low ebb these days. It must be Global Warming. Hence the feeble presence here and indeed everywhere else apart from off forays on... Read more

  Posted on 03 November 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• FCO Speechwriting

  A Polish friend draws my attention to this speech by FCO Minister of State David Lidington. It's all about the European Union, delivered to a senior French... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Limits of Government (and of Spying)

  Reader Nigel Sedgwick reminds me of his long insightful comment here back in mid-2011 on the subject of where or not to draw the line when it comes to state... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Milibandism and Communism

  In case you missed it, and I have done my best to miss it, there has been a puny but noisy row in the UK media over a piece in the Daily Mail that pointed out... Read more

  Posted on 13 October 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• OPCW Nobel Peace Prize: Yes - Maybe - No

  Dear All, Sorry to have dropped from the Blogosphere. Too much going on in the world and in the Crawf household, and not enough to say. Read more

  Posted on 13 October 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Iran at the UN: Diplomatic Chess

  It's hard to work out what exactly Iran's President Rouhani said in the USA about Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions (or not) and/or the Holocaust. We Brits see... Read more

  Posted on 26 September 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Feminism Goes Insane

  This is a grim article to read, showing as it does how the more exotic parts of modern feminism have plunged deep into the worst sorts of coercion and stupid... Read more

  Posted on 26 September 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The iPhone 5S Arrives: Pay Attention!

  I have been waiting to upgrade from my iPhone 4S to something notably better. That moment arrives with the appearance of the iPhone 5S and its fancy new... Read more

  Posted on 26 September 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Public Speaking For Women (and Men)

  Back again folks. Sorry about the break. I somehow keep getting distracted. Last week I gave a masterclass in Public Speaking to Gov Know. The results were, if ... Read more

  Posted on 26 September 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Russia's Transition from Communism Recalled

  My latest piece for DIPLOMAT is out. It recalls in some detail my happy time in the Foreign Office dealing with the end of the USSR and then the Russian... Read more

  Posted on 16 September 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Obama, Putin, Syria: Diplomacy for Post-Moderns

  It's a very rare honour to be quoted by Mark Steyn. But it can happen: This is what happens when you elect someone because he looks cool standing next to... Read more

  Posted on 15 September 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Pat Nevin Talks Rubbish on Football Pitch Size

  Here on the BBC Football web pages is a video of former footballer Pat Nevin waffling on about the correlation between the size of a soccer pitch and the... Read more

  Posted on 13 September 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Assad Must Stay!

  My piece for Telegraph Blogs this morning: Days ago Washington was gearing up to hit hard at the Assad regime because of its crimes against humanity in using... Read more

  Posted on 13 September 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Abusing Diplomatic Immunity

  I appeared on LBC radio this morning on the always interesting subject of abuses of diplomatic immunity by foreign diplomats in the UK. Read more

  Posted on 13 September 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY