Just an ordinary Saturday in Tirana…

I may have mentioned that our hotel in Tirana was part of the Air Albania Arena. What I have hitherto failed to mention, and discovered rather late in the day, was that the Albanian national football team were due to play a home UEFA Nations League fixture whilst we were in town. I did think about buying tickets, but they had officially sold out and I wasn’t wildly keen on spending significant sums of money on the grey market to see a game between two teams I don’t really know.

In fairness, the “mystery” element doesn’t phase me that much, as I proved a few years back in Tbilisi. But that was rather cheaper, and there was never a possibility of a full house to see anyone play Gibraltar. The Czech Republic, on the other hand…

And, as it turned out, the Czechs were staying with us - very convenient for the stadium, obviously.

But we had plans.

Tirana has two major parks, one of which was known as “Big Park” and surrounds an artificial lake to the south of the city centre, close to our hotel. And, now that the sunshine had returned, it offered an excellent place for a gentle stroll.

Both Ros and I enjoy strolling through neighbourhoods and parks in new places - they give you a better sense of how real life operates in a way that just visiting tourist attractions never quite can. And Big Park was as good as one might hope, with little stalls selling toys or snacks and drinks dotted about, and Albanians of all ages out enjoying the warmth of a fine November day.

The lake itself is pleasant enough, especially where trees shade the banks, and the park is generally pretty well maintained which reinforced our sense that civic pride is quite strong.

As we walked back towards our hotel though, you could tell that excitement was beginning to mount around the Air Albania Arena, with crowds beginning to flock to the nearby bars and coffee shops. Albania were still in with a decent shot at promotion to League A, with two wins in their final group games, both in Tirana, pretty much guaranteed to get them to the promised land.

We had other plans though, which involved heading across town. As Ros is a member of the European Affairs Select Committee in the Lords, she had contacted our Embassy in Tirana, and an invitation to tea had been forthcoming from our recently-appointed Ambassador. Usually, my role in such events is as “travelling spouse” - Ros is obviously of far more interest to our diplomats than I am - but given that I’m not unfamiliar with international politics, I do chip in with the odd question.

Impressively, Nicholas Abbott is an Albanian speaker, having studied the language prior to being appointed “Our Man in Pristina” in 2019. And, on finding the Residence, we were welcomed in for tea and some rather nice banana bread (and I don’t even like bananas).

Having met a few of our Diplomatic Corps over the years, I’ve always been impressed by their professionalism and enthusiasm and nothing was changed by this meeting. We were told about his outreach programme and about such of the Embassy’s achievements in building relationships between the two countries and, whilst you do need to remind yourself that he is a diplomat, it’s reassuring to know that clever, engaging people are out there, representing us in foreign capitals across the globe.

We tried not to outstay our welcome, after all, it was a Saturday and even Ambassadors need some downtime, so we thanked His Excellency for his hospitality and headed out towards the maelstrom…

The Air Albania Arena seats approximately 21,000 spectators, and there clearly weren’t going to be that many away supporters. The usual sellers of football merchandise were out in force and the bars increasingly packed as the 8.45 p.m. kickoff approached.

I’d planned for this though, having booked a table in the hotel restaurant. Normally, I wouldn’t do that - in so many places, the hotel restaurant in a rather soulless afterthought but, in cities that don’t have many good hotels, that rule is usually suspended. And here, with good cause.

Somewhat to our surprise though, the restaurant, and especially the tables outside, were full of football fans getting the beers in before the game but behaving entirely reasonably. We ate a very good meal and watched a bunch of people with flags and scarves as they slowly filtered away towards their seats in the stadium.

It turned out that, if you had the right room in the hotel, you had a clear view of events on the pitch. We weren’t that lucky although, as it turned out, the game was fated to end as a rather drab 0-0 draw.

It also demonstrated that the soundproofing was pretty good, as 20,000 people left the stadium without disturbing us…

A chance to find out how diplomacy works...

Just after Christmas, Ros forwarded something on to me, an invitation to take up an short course of study, “Diplomacy in the 21st Century”, offered by the Open University in co-operation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. I pondered the matter for a week or so and then thought, “Why not?”.

The course is, I admit, intended for;

... all UK government staff working on international issues, in the UK and overseas and colleagues from other Diplomatic Academies and Ministries of Foreign Affairs worldwide. It will also be suitable for people working in thinktanks, academics and professionals in any sector whose work has a close relation to diplomacy, students in fields such as diplomatic studies, and anybody interested in the nature of a diplomatic career.

but, with my interest in foreign policy and international affairs, it should prove to be, if not useful, then interesting.

And I really ought to find ways of keeping the little grey cells active. I’ve given up being Treasurer of Mid Suffolk Liberal Democrats, indeed I’m not even on the Executive Committee (but that’s a story for another day), and I have some time on my hands. What I’d rather not take on is an ‘everyday’ long term commitment, so a short course is ideal, particularly with the long winter evenings to fill.

So, what is the subject matter? Well, we’ll be covering;

• Overview of modern diplomatic representation
• The new tools of social media and wider digital diplomacy
• The history of women in British diplomacy and the gender equality agenda
• Overview of some key theories of diplomacy
• The challenges of expeditionary diplomacy and leadership in a diplomatic context
• Diplomatic tradecraft including protocol, networking and reporting

From that, it seems that I might be able to develop (in some cases, obtain) some useful skills. The likelihood of me ending up in the Diplomatic Service is, I accept, highly unlikely, but as a member of the Federal International Relations Committee, it might help me to be more effective when working with sister parties, or at ALDE Party events.

I’ve met some of our Ambassadors close up - Armenia, Chile and Cuba - and been impressed both by their commitment and their willingness to explain and answer questions. Finding out some more of the background to their work will be interesting...

The course doesn’t start until Monday though, and there are, it seems, still places. So, if you fancy joining me, here’s the link.

Yemen: a chance for us to do some good in the world?

Whilst the West is obsessed with the 'Syria problem' and the rise of Islamic State (or whatever we're calling it this week), elsewhere an equally appalling slaughter of innocents is taking place.

Yemen has been a cauldron for decades, sometimes simmering relatively gently, then bubbling fiercely, but mostly beyond the gaze of outsiders unless its a slow news day, or a particularly noticeable atrocity is carried out. Marxists versus the rest when it was North and South Yemen, tribe against tribe, Yemen offers a kaleidoscope of opportunities for those seeking to forment uprisings against the administration of the day. As Captain Carrot said of Klatch, in Terry Pratchett's 'Jingo', Yemen isn't so much a country as an argument.

But, it now offers another outlet in the struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia for dominance in the region, resulting in a pretty one-sided war of annihilation between the rebel Houthis and the Saudis, whereby the Saudis bring death from the skies upon a population with no means of fighting back. And nobody appears to do anything to stop them...

So far, there hasn't been an outpouring of refugees similar to that from Syria, mostly because there aren't many options for escape. Crossing the seas off the southern coast means dodging Somali pirates who still operate in those waters, with the likelihood of landing somewhere not very stable even if you make it - Eritrea or Somalia, anyone?

As a result, there doesn't appear to much impetus to do anything. And yet, people are dying in droves. So, why doesn't the United Kingdom, or the European Union, do more to restrict the suffering of the Yemeni people? Sponsorship of a conference to bring together the different parties, calls for a cessation of aerial bombing, a United Nations resolution, something that might give the people some respite?

We're a Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council, the European Union aspires to a role in world diplomacy. Yemen might be a good place to use that to some effect...

So, what did a liberal bureaucrat get up to at the @ALDEParty Congress?

Whilst Ros was campaigning for the Vice-Presidency, I had work to do too. After all, I'm not the best 'minder' in the world, having been fired during her Party Presidential campaign for a tendency to stop and chat to people, rather than making sure that she got to where she needed to be. And besides, I have my own role, that of Council member and occasional diplomat, seeking compromise where possible and offering organisational enlightenment when process is discussed.

At Party Council, in the discussion about changing the internal procedures so as to withdraw voting rights over the European Parliamentary election manifesto from non-EU member state parties, I got up to note that, where aspects of it impact directly on them, enlargement, for example, we were potentially denying them a voice. And, whilst I understood the motivation underlying the proposal, I did want to remind Council of the inherent risk.

In the resolution working group, I tried to bridge the gap between the pacifists within our delegation, who were trying to insist that a military response to Islamic State should be the last alternative, and those delegates who felt that diplomacy was impossible. I noted that, whilst direct diplomacy with IS was well nigh impossible, talking to those countries who could stop the flow of black market oil trade, for example, was certainly worthwhile. I like to think that I was able to broker a compromise between the two sides of the argument.

In the debate on a new development aid policy, I successfully agreed an amendment with the movers from LYMEC (European Liberal Youth), adding provision for support to tax administrations in developing countries both to enable them to increase available resources but also to help in the fight against global tax evasion.

So, all in all, a fairly successful ALDE Party Council and Congress for the house bureaucrat, and with the prospect of a working group to look at future changes to the Statutes and Rules of Procedure, I can see how I might have a future role.

Oh, and yes, my wife became a Vice-President. Actually, it was a pretty good three days, wasn't it?...

Bring Your Spouse to Work Day - House of Lords style

Never let it be said that the House of Lords is not a progressive institution, as the State Opening of Parliament is one of those rare occasions when the spouses (and families) of Peers get to be part of the show.

Only those Peers who own, or have borrowed, the red robes topped with the pelt of some poor hapless creature who would much rather still be alive and attached, get to sit in the chamber, so the benches which are normally filled with Barons, Earls and the like, are filled with Ladies (the capital is intended) in their finery.

Naturally, as is so often the case, no such provision is made for male spouses, so I had no opportunity to dust off my tiara - a family heirloom, you understand - and instead put on a suit and was found a seat in the West Gallery, with some of the High Commissioners from such countries as The Gambia and New Zealand. I had been lucky enough to get a seat, as Ros had noted in her application that I was a 'rookie' spouse and that this would be my first such occasion.

The speech by Her Majesty was notable primarily for its brevity, and from my angle, I got the impression that she was turning it over to see if she had missed something. She does give 'good speech' though, and it was certainly an occasion that will live long in the memory.

I can also confirm that a potential diplomatic incident was averted, however. I wonder whose idea it was to seat the Indian and Pakistani High Commissioners next to each other?