Fri 14 December 2007 - I just saw a miracle
I just saw a miracle.
It’s lunchtime in the city.
It’s two weeks before Christmas.
There was no queue at the post office.
How is this possible?
Maybe it was a hallucination.
Archive for December 14th, 2007
Fri 14 December 2007 - Have you been to Chatham House?
A phrase which is being thrown around in some circles (particularly government) recently is the Chatham House Rule. Perhaps it’s always been around, but I’ve only noticed it more recently.
I think some of those using it don’t really know what it means.
What it strictly means is: You can talk about whatever you hear, but you can’t say where it came from:
“When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”
– Source: Chatham House
Whereas some people seem to think it means: This is confidential. You can’t repeat this.
I do my best to respect confidences, so if in doubt about what they mean, I’ll be assuming it’s the latter. But in some cases I might ask what they really mean.