We live in weird times. How explain any of the following? The economic and fiscal policies of Conservative governments since 2010 have been rampant failures, increasing national indebtedness to levels not seen during preceding...
How quickly the English commentariat forgets the recent past and glosses over inconvenient aspects of the present! The Guardian of 10 April 2017 published a slightly edited version of a letter from me of...
My family historian wife, Jane Barder, has exhaustively researched and written a fascinating and often moving account of her father’s (and his family’s) experiences during the second world war, from the time when he...
Today’s (15 June 2016) Financial Times publishes a column by their top economics commentator, the internationally respected Martin Wolf, who conveys the grimmest and most cogent warning of the likely effects of Britain leaving the European Union...
This is a postscript to my recent blog post at https://barder.com/4638, with new information. Not only is my book What Diplomats Do – The life and work of diplomats out now (May 2016) in affordable...
This is (obviously) a new post on my Ephems blog. This time it’s also an advertisement. My first (and only) book, What Diplomats Do: the life and work of diplomats, was published in the United...
My old friend Robin Fairlie and I summoned up enough vanity to imagine that our recent exchange of emails about the state of the world might be of wider interest. So here it is. Dear...
This is a message to contributors of comments and Ephems subscribers with the initials RS, JM and PM: you have all registered to receive a notification of any new comment posted on a particular...
This is the final commercial for my recent book, What Diplomats Do: The Life and Work of Diplomats, published last year and available to UK readers at a substantial discount which (sadly) expires at...
The political and economic scenes in Britain are warming up nicely as the general election, due on 6 May, approaches. The leaders of both the main parties are working hard to establish the issue...