[Prodigal Son]

It caught me off-guard and causes me concern as to how much communication is occurring.

Well, you dropped the ball there. It caught no one off guard on this side of the Atlantic. It's only been building up in the news here for ages.

[Stoat]

It caught me off-guard and causes me concern as to how much communication is occurring.

Well, you dropped the ball there.

By my giving greater weight to an official statement by the Foreign Secretary at 10 Downing Street than by other, lower officials in times past that do not carry the weight of a State Policy?

It caught no one off guard on this side of the Atlantic. It's only been building up in the news here for ages.
 

Please don't be so terribly eager to paint others as being completely out of touch, when I am only drawing a distinction between previous 'chatter' and an official pronouncement of State Policy by the Foreign Secretary, which, by the way, is "quicker than expected", according to the article..

I continue to wish that this had been a joint announcement, considering the fact that it is being projected as a matter of State policy.

From the article:

"The plan for a quicker than expected withdrawal was revealed today by Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary"

If the plan is 'quicker than expected', how can that have been "building up in the news here for ages."?

It caught me off-guard and causes me concern as to how much communication is occurring.

Well, you dropped the ball there.

By my giving greater weight to an official statement by the Foreign Secretary at 10 Downing Street than by other, lower officials in times past that do not carry the weight of a State Policy?

It caught no one off guard on this side of the Atlantic. It's only been building up in the news here for ages.
 

Please don't be so terribly eager to paint others as being completely out of touch, when I am only drawing a distinction between previous 'chatter' and an official pronouncement of State Policy by the Foreign Secretary, which, by the way, is "quicker than expected", according to the article..

I continue to wish that this had been a joint announcement, considering the fact that it is being projected as a matter of State policy.

From the article:

"The plan for a quicker than expected withdrawal was revealed today by Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary"

If the plan is 'quicker than expected', how can that have been "building up in the news here for ages."?