One of the things that I enjoy about going on holiday, apart from the time away and the sunshine, is the opportunity to catch up on my reading without all of the distractions of modern day life. The autobiography of Paddy Ashdown – A Fortunate Life – was one of the books that I got to catch up on.
The title, A Fortunate Life, is very apt, as becomes abundantly clear when you read his autobiography. From being in the SBS to being a Foreign Office spy (which he has kept all of the operational details confidential, as he should do) to leading the Liberal Democrats and then going to Bosnia, this book was one that I couldn’t put down.
Ashdown is perfectly candid about everything, including his affair, and some of his army stories are hilarious. To the student of modern politics and the rise of New Labour it is also an invaluable resource. And, it has to be admitted by all sides, he was ahead of the game on the Serbian Question of the 1990s, and it was this that made him uniquely qualified to become the High Representative to Bosnia & Herzegovina and help with the rebuilding.
Following on from his exploits in Bosnia, he talks about the offer to go and help Afghanistan following the invasion. Although he wanted to enjoy his retirement, and rightly so, he saw it as his duty, if asked, to go to Afghanistan as we are sending our armed forces there for our country. I think that he would have been a very good facilitator in Afghanistan with his knowledge and experience, and having made the move to statesman would have been able to get much more done with the international community. It is just a shame that President Karzai of Afghanistan played silly beggars and scuppered the whole enterprise.
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