A little learning
Sir: When you write about two subjects of which you know nothing — like diplomacy and business — the result is, not surprising- ly, a load of cobblers.
Take your statement: 'These days, when the British Prime Minister wants to com- municate with the Indonesian Prime Minis- ter, he uses a telephone, not a diplomat (Leader, 12 June). Well, in the first place, Indonesia does not have a prime minister. Even forgetting that, there is the time dif- ference between London and Jakarta. Then, assuming that the British prime min- ister is prepared to work out of hours, there is the question of whether the Indonesian President (or whomever he gets through to) speaks English — and, even if he does, whether he wants to conduct a business dis- cussion in that language.
And even if a British prime minister does pick up the phone and does get through to the President of Indonesia, you can bet your bottom dollar on two things. The first is that the man in No. 10 will be reading off a detailed brief prepared by the people you deride from the FCO.
The second is that, having put the phone down, the man in Jakarta will phone his foreign minister and instruct him to call in the British ambassador to find out what on earth the British Prime Minister was going on about.
Osman Streater
Savile Club, 69 Brook Street, London W1
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