Thanks to all for your encouraging noises! Now trying to fit my CV into the standard NATO job application form – not a very easy task!

But the deadline for applications is not until 21 April, so I doubt if I’ll hear anything from them before May and probably not know if I have the job until June, with presumably the standard bureaucratic faffing meaning I wouldn’t start until August if I got it. (Actually if that was the timescale I’d take August off on holiday and start in September.)

But the good thing is that it doesn’t interfere with the timescale of what was until yesterday Plan A (and is now Plan B), to try and get into the European Commission. Belt and braces; a good combination!