Thursday, March 19, 2015

Tony Blair and speechmaking

From Nu`man: "For anyone who wants to know who writes and researches Tony Blair speeches:

"Last spring, researchers at the Tony Blair Faith Foundation received a request from the former Prime Minister’s private office for a detailed briefing on the Middle East and the rise of radical Islam. I was working as the launch editor of a new website (grandly titled Religion and Geopolitics) due for launch later in the year and had become used to my staff being sucked in to acting as Blair’s informal private think-tank.

We were told that “TB” needed detailed research for a speech he planned to deliver at the Bloomberg headquarters in London, which was to define his vision for the future. My team of young graduates in international affairs were experts on the connections between religion and conflict...

...My team suggested he might wish to nuance his argument for the Bloomberg speech but he does not deal in niceties.""