 He has been a fellow of the Transnational Institute.He was educated at Midhurst Grammar School (1950–56), the School of Oriental & African Studies (1957–58), and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, (1958–61).He worked at the University of Westminster, before going to The Guardian, where he was employed for 20 years (1983–2003), as assistant foreign editor and chief foreign leader-writer.