5182. Not Quite the Diplomat Home Truths about World Affairs, by Chris Patten (read 21 Jul 2014) This book was written in 2004 and 2005 and deals with world affairs of that era--dominated by the war in Iraq, which Patten cogently deplores. I knew Patten was the last British Governor of Hong Kong but this book is not about his time there, but rather about his time as a British member of the European Commission. He did a lot of hard work and traveled a lot. He shows how Bush's policies did much harm and suggests how the US could have a better standing in the world. But since the things he talks about are all in the past the book is mainly valuable to show the mistakes that Bush and Rumsfeld made when they were running things. I should have read the book 8 or 9 years ago. But it s a sprightly book and full of good observations. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/922824.html

Patten's book is a joy to read, just as Patten himself is usually a joy to listen to. Americans may well get a lot more out of it than Europeans. I may be wrong; part of the problem is that I know Patten well enough that I don't find any of the views he expresses here surprising, and in fact I already agree with most of them. He is eloquent and specific on how the British Conservative government screwed up its relationship with Europe (though his assertion that this only really happened after he was kicked out of Parliament in 1992 is at variance with my memory). He is brilliant on the need for the EU to develop a sensible approach to the rest of the world, especially the rising powers of India and China, but also in its own neighbourhood, by integrating the Balkans and Turkey through the prospect of membership. He is also brilliant on the US - writing as a passionate admirer of the American project, but one who is deeply dismayed by the Rumsfeld/Cheney domination of foreign policy. ( )

Patten's easy read style comes through again for a truly absorbing exploration of politics in the Far East, Europe and the USA. ( )

Europe, Non-Fiction, Foreign relations,

Sometimes described as the best Prime Minister the British never had. ( )