A few years ago the president of one of those numerous archipelagoes peppered across the Pacific Ocean made an accusatory statement about Australia that threatened a diplomatic incident. Listening to an interview on the BBC with the then Australian foreign minister my mind was tuned to expect a suitably circumlocutory diplomatic reply. "Frankly, he is talking a load…
Should auld acquaintance be forgot?
Alex Salmond, the bank manager-faced First Minister of Scotland, has been making headlines lately due to a referendum planned for 2014 to decide on Scottish independence. What a pity. On a visit to Westminster Abbey a few years ago, I collared a verger and we went on a hunt for the grave of Andrew Bonar…
Bo Peep
Ever since a BBC newsreader put me right about the difference in pronunciation between Gorilla, a type of ape, and Guerrilla, a type of freedom fighter, I have been a bit of a stickler for getting the sounds of words on target. While a gorilla may be anthropomorphically protrayed as a guerrilla, articulation of the latter involves a…
India – hitting investors where it hurts
As a sport that dictates: "when you are out you are in" , the vast majority of the world's population may be forgiven for not understanding cricket. Not so the man on the New Delhi Omnibus for whom the game is a way-of-life. While recent cricket scandals have tended to emanate from India's nemesis, Pakistan, a…
Just another argy-bargy
Adrian Mole, aged 15 years and 1 day, wrote in his diary on April 3, 1982: "10am. Woke my father up to tell him Argentina has invaded the Falklands. He shot out of bed because he thought the Falklands lay off the coast of Scotland. When I pointed out that they were eight thousand miles…
The Lord giveth and the Government taketh away
In recent months, both the Obama Administration and Republican Congressional leaders have suggested that tax deductions for charitable donations should, in certain circumstances, be curbed in the future - although, in keeping with all things Campaign 2012, the facts are a bit thin on the ground. Frankly, I did not give this particular tax break much thought until…
Greatest Britain
What makes Britain great? There is, of course, no single answer (and the French would suggest there is no question), but the nation that gave the world its principal parliamentary system, its principal international language and (sorry, Yanks) its principal sport must have something in its national DNA that sets it apart from all the…
Czech mate
Slovakia spent most of the twentieth century as the hapless side-kick in a Vaudeville double act that was incessantly down on its luck thanks to British and French betrayal, German invasion, Soviet domination and Soviet invasion. When Czechoslovakia finally broke up peacefully in 1993 the junior partner had an uphill battle to establish itself. But…
Vive L’ Hollande
The swashbuckling Alexandre Dumas coined the phrase "cherchez la femme" (literally: look for the woman) that has haunted French culture ever since. In the run up to the French Presidential election it is generally agreed that, had Dominique Strauss-Kahn not fumbled in the wrong pocket of his bathrobe for the gratuity for the chamber maid…
Washington the dream factory
Last year, the Oscar for Best Actor was awarded to someone who feigned inability to speak coherently. This year, the same award went to someone who chose not to speak. The 2012 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor went to that prize's oldest recipient best known for playing a singing sailor whose most memorable line, nearly 50 years ago, was…
Tax Break 