Peter Ricketts
Ambassador to France from February 2012 to January 2016.
23rd December 2015
Paris, France
With considerable justification, COP21 has been widely hailed as a success. It reached a legally-binding agreement that aims to keep global warming well below 2 degrees, with a review-mechanism towards ever more ambitious targets, and financial commitments to support developing countries on their path towards environmental sustainability. This agreement is far better than most could […]
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11th December 2015
Paris, France
This time last week we were at the start of COP21. The conference centre was smelling of woodchip (you can really tell how hard France have worked at making COP21 sustainable), there were still freebies being handed out, delegates were relatively smiley and positive (directly proportional to the quality/quantity of freebies and coffee, I have […]
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4th December 2015
Paris, France
When I woke up (at a not very nice time) on 1 December, it was Day 2 of COP21. Little did I know that by the time I next shut my eyes I would have discussed the chances of success of the climate conference with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, shook President Hollande’s […]
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21st May 2015
Paris, France
This week end we are going to be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk, one of those extraordinary iconic events of the Second World War.
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21st April 2015
Paris, France
In this guest blog, Deputy Head of Mission Kara Owen discusses what it is to be a modern diplomat, after a talk at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in Paris.
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12th March 2015
Paris, France
In this guest blog, Colonel Geoff Wright, Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Paris, pays tribute to the British and Indian soldiers who died in the battle of Neuve-Chapelle in the North of France.
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5th March 2015
Paris, France
I had the opportunity to open a conference of the nuclear energy industry between Britain and France, looking at a low carbon future. It made me think about the way these two hugely important issues come together. How do we ensure a low carbon future for the planet and keep global warming under control and […]
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23rd February 2015
Paris, France
This year of 2015, we celebrate the 800th anniversary of one of the founding documents of English law, the Magna Carta. This was agreed between King John and his rebel barons in 1215. And actually one of the prominent barons at that time was Prince Louis, who went on to be King Louis VIII of […]
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22nd December 2014
Paris, France
So this is the time of year when I look back at what we’ve achieved and 2014 will stay in my mind a long time as a year of anniversaries. We’ve had the 20th anniversary of the Channel Tunnel, and the Queen unveiled a little plaque to commemorate that at Saint Pancras when she was coming […]
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8th December 2014
Paris, France
I’m really proud that the British Council team here in Paris have been leading the campaign with the Council to remember the football truce, that extraordinary moment around Christmas of 1914 when British and German soldiers got out of their trenches around Ypres (but we think also in some areas in France) and ended up […]
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