• Just a little retirement job, Paddy?

So Lord "Paddy" Ashdown has apparently accepted the job as UN high representative in Kabul:

The former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown, has agreed to become the United Nations' envoy to Afghanistan, a source close to negotiations on the post said today.
"Yes, he has accepted the job," the source told the Reuters news agency, speaking of an agreement between Ashdown, 66, and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.

Ashdown, a former soldier, had been seeking a strengthened mandate for the post, to become more deeply involved in coordinating efforts to combat a Taliban insurgency and guide reconstruction.

Hardly what I would choose as a retirement job.  I guess it's true what they say about old soldiers!  Good luck to him.  I disagree with our presence there, but I can't think of anyone better to try to put it right.