The word “quite” in English is an extraordinary linguistic phenomenon because it has two meanings which are used in precisely the same way, as a qualifying adjective, yet mean precisely the opposite. To say something is “quite interesting” is to mean that it is a fair bit interesting, interesting to a reasonable and acceptable degree. [...]

In a meeting with our lawyers to try and finalise our position on contract variations and delay payments to subcontractors. Pretty heavy going. The industry has a rather unpleasant culture of aggressive pursuit of unreasonable claims, with arbitration or court an early rather than a last option. For a naturally cooperative person like me I [...]

Juggling my itinerary for media appearances in Turkey next week to promote the Turkish edition of Murder in Samarkand, to enable me to get back to participate in an event on Saturday 9 April. I have the Sri Lanka/New Zealand match on in the background. It looked a lot more hopeless for New Zealand at [...]

in a really difficult situation having a testy conversation with a nice Ghanaian who was also in a difficult position. Now we have completed the gas pipeline we are desperate to get the turbines switched from diesel fo gas. The fuel saving to the Ghana government amounts to US $3,000 an hour. We need the [...]

Every now and then I think up a new blog gimmick, then I forget it after a few days. My latest wheeze is to tell you every day what I was doing at 16.00 local time. Why on earth you should care I don’t know, but it will give a series of arbitrary snapshots, and [...]

I am not in general fond of violence, but very seldom get het up about political violence against things. As a young man I contributed my small bit to rather a lot of violence done to Torness nuclear power station in the early stages of its construction. But I really do not approve of hurting [...]

Very sorry that we can’t discuss and there have been so few posts of late. You will be glad to know that work is underway and finally we are moving to a new and better blog platform in a few days! [ADMIN NOTE - Comments may be closed, even on recent entries, during this move.]

I am becoming quite fond of my little corner of Schiphol airport. I have put up my Christmas cards and a few bits of tinsel. I now have a boarding card for the 0800 to Manchester. This is the sixth boarding card I have had. It is very hard to understand why, time after time, [...]

The good news is that I am at Schiphol airport with a passable internet connection for the first time in three weeks. The bad news is that I am at Schiphol airport a great deal longer than I anticipated. Schiphol is colder than Heathrow and has mpre snow than Heathrow. It is operating normally – [...]

Just arrived in Ghana after a journey complicated by the snow in the UK. A few meetings this morning, then some thoughts on Wikileaks, Chilcot and the so called complicity in torture inquiry to come.

What on earth are they so afraid I am going to say? Today Channel 4 News contacted me to ask me on to discuss wikileaks. I was not over keen to venture out in the snow, so a very nice lady called Leona said they would send a car to Ramsgate as they were “extremely [...]

This wracked body is battling to keep going, with problems still arising from whatever it was that nearly killed me in Tahskent in 2003 (if that sounds mysterious, it is – read Murder in Samarkand). I have spent most of the last week acting as a pincushion for the local hospital. All of which thoughts [...]

I have just seen the most beautiful site. A meteor of the deepest red, a distinct flare with a tail, came over in a great arc, moving very slowly and slightly wobbly, and gradually dwindling away to nothing. Just as it vanished, a second one appeared from the original spot and traced the same arc, [...]

For those who have found it hard to get the site or to post comments, we are under a massive and concerted spambot attack. See this: Download file The interesting thing is that this is disguised as commercial spam but it isn’t – there are no real car dealers, fake watch salesmen and loan sharks [...]

No apologies for this 9 day old link. A new blog by somebody who has been one of my closest friends for the last 33 years – and an excellent article on tuition fees. As he says, the rebels are the Lib Dem ministers going against party policy. I see he hasn’t blogged since, so [...]

Not merely just a bit thick, Wayne Rooney is actually a really nasty piece of work, and his personal milieu is one of gangsters in the literal, criminal sense of the word. It is five years since my friend John Sweeney told me this,and he this year published the well researched Rooney’s Gold. Even after [...]

My break from blogging continues. I have not been posting in or reading the comments sections. I am told some people have been worried by some posts there purporting to be from me. They are not from me, I am in good health and have not discovered any “bugs” or phone taps – someone is [...]

This blog now comes to you from Ramsgate. Sorry about the hiatus. I flew back from Ghana overnight and that day picked up the keys and entered our new home. Since then I have been ankle deep in plaster dust. There is a lot to do. I share the outrage over the lack of a [...]

With genuine reluctance, I find myself obliged to ban Larry from St Louis from commenting on this blog. I am extremely happy for people to comment on this blog who disagree with my views. It makes it much more interesting for everybody. I wish more people who disagree would comment. But Larry has a different [...]

Apostate, Freeborn and Steelback (who may or may not all be the same person) are not welcome on this site, under these or any other names, for persistent anti-semitism and holocaust denial. I have deleted the comments which were the last straw. This blog is very tolerant, but not absolutely tolerant.