Charlescrawford

LATEST ARTICLES ( 189 )

• Back in Too Much Business

  My foray to Geneva last week to give a two-day Speechwriting in Action masterclass to international officials went well: The workshop you facilitated was truly... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Diplomatic Speechwriting: Coaching by the World's Leading Diplomatic Speechwriter

  There is a veritable tsunami of interest in my training/coaching skills as the World's Leading Diplomatic Speechwriter ©. Read more

  Posted on 27 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Balkan Apologies

  Here I am again, this time quoted in the Daily Telegraph on the always interesting subject of Balkan apologies: Charles Crawford, a former British ambassador... Read more

  Posted on 27 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Serbia v Kosovo v EU

  Here's my Commentator piece on that important Serbia/Kosovo/EU deal. Thus: Kosovo did better on symbolism than substance. It won agreement that Serbian official... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Framing Political Opponents

  Over at PunditWire my latest piece, this time on how to use subtle framing and reframing skills of the sort used by mediators to create a subtle bad smell aroun... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• China on European Welfare Incentives

  Have a look at this magnificent AJ interview from late 2011 with Jin Liqun, head of China's Sovereign Wealth Fund. The whole thing is impressive for Jin... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Bruce Sterling on Technology

  Here is a towering example of modern American freewheeling public speaking. Bruce Sterling of Beyond the Beyond shares with us in a ramblingly insightful way al... Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Slovenia and the Green Parrot

  Back in Belgrade in communist Yugoslavia in 1984 or thereabouts, the then Ambassador and an unusually smart Ist Sec Econ pored over a diplomatic despatch that... Read more

  Posted on 12 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Eurobonds - The Time Comes? Fine Soros Speech

  You have to hand it to George Soros. When he goes for it, he hits the target big. Look at this speech arguing that the introduction of Eurobonds is by far the... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Words for Remembering Lady Thatcher

  My latest piece over at Punditwire recalls a fine speech by Teresa Potocka in honour of Lady Thatcher at the Conservative Friends of Poland in early 2010: Lady... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Thatcher in Gdansk: Turning Back the Wheel of History

  So, there I was in Gdansk in August 2005 for some impressive ceremonies to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1980 August agreements that showed the Solidarity... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Corruption at the UN?

  Many years ago when I was at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy I had an American friend call Jim Wasserstrom, a lively quirky character. Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Thank You, Margaret Thatcher

  My own meetings with Margaret Thatcher are described at the Commentator: My final substantive meeting with her came in 2009 at a small private dinner in London. Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Who Leads UNESCO?

  I find myself taking a fleeting interest in the goings-on at UNESCO as the time comes round to choose a new Director-General. Never a dull moment there - it is... Read more

  Posted on 05 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• N Korea and Washington: Jaw-Jaw?

  The FT has an interesting but perhaps rather mischievous piece (££) by Kishore Mahbubani (distinguished dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Football Fascism (Again)

  I have opined here on various occasions on the subject of Football Fascism, the strange way that collectivist politicians lose their minds and start meddling... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The PowerPoint Mediocrity Death Spiral. Reversed!

  How many readers have not sat through a truly horrible PowerPoint-style presentation in the recent past? Those precious seconds of your life. Lost. Forever. Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• More Musty Needy Speeches

  My latest piece at Punditwire, where I note with horror that the Milibandistic dry rot of filling speeches with meaningless - but also intellectually shifty -... Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Risk v Centralisation

  One of the themes of this blog is the idea of Uncertainty (and indirectly Causation) and how policy responds to it. Take this example: ... Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Sir Sydney Kentridge QC Retires

  Sydney Kentridge QC is at last retiring. Here is a Wikipedia summary of his remarkable legal career. And here is my account of watching him in action in... Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2013 CURRENT, POLITICS, SOCIETY