Not Quite the Diplomat - Home Thruths about World Affairs

"The moment in their careers that some ambassadors seem to look forward to with the greatest enthusiasm is the drafting of their last despatch, from Bangkok or Berlin. They can cast their discretion to the wind, before retiring to Wiltshire, let rip to the Foreign Secretary and their senior colleagues, saying what they really think about the diplomatic service in general and relations with the countries where they have served in particular. Well, here's my own farewell despatch -farewell at least for the time being. It says much of what I've wanted to say, but until now couldn't say candidly, about Britain, Europe, America and our rapidly changing world -how it has developed and how future challenges should be handled. It is not a memoir, though it is laced with recollections and, when they seemed funny or revealing enough, anecdotes about events and the political leaders who seek to master them. There is a tendency to talk and write about foreign policy and world affairs though they were the preserve of an expert priesthood. They are not. They involve all of us, and they are understandable -shorn of jargon- by all of us. We can change the world for the better. But we need to understand it first"