Cultural diplomacy is the key to the UK-Russia dispute

The British Council closed its offices in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg on January 17 after repeated examples of Russian intimidation of its employees. "If anyone wants an example of the bankruptcy of conventional diplomacy (on both sides), it is here", writes. Simon Jenkins. ... The British Council ought to be the lead diplomatic department in all but the most politically sensitive countries, and be staffed appropriately. Politics, defence and commerce should be subsidiary activities. In an age of soft power, western democracies will do far better in propagating their values of freedom of speech and expression by the exchange of people and ideas than by the bullying diplomatic rhetoric of the war on terror. They should lead by example. That requires the diplomacy of human and cultural exchange."

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