UK in New York » British Consulate General New York

Talk about feeling energised. As I fly back to New York from Houston, blogging about my time there is a good way to reflect on what I’ve just witnessed. Offshore Technology Conference is the largest energy conference on the planet with over 90,000 delegates. This is Texas after all: ‘big’ takes on a whole new meaning here. I was ready to be impressed with the British representation at the conference. … Read more »24 hours at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston – Britain has the power!

It is fitting that St. George’s Day, England’s national day, should coincide with the birthday of William Shakespeare, Britain’s greatest cultural icon. Despite his surviving works’ totalling fewer than a million words – making the whole kit and caboodle only three-quarters the length of Proust’s tome – they are the pillars of the language and the canon. People the world over read, perform, watch and listen to Shakespeare’s works every … Read more »Brush Up Your Shakespeare

On a trip to the UK during the first ten days of February, I had the pleasure of visiting the annual Spring Fair in Birmingham, the UK’s largest gift trade show. There I attended a “Meet the Buyer” event hosted by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and the British Jewellery and Giftware Federation, which brought multiple small businesses together to meet with UKTI trade officers from over 30 countries in … Read more »3,000 miles for the perfect tea set!

It was during an Academy Awards ceremony presided over by Johnny Carson in 1982 that Colin Welland famously declared, “The British are coming!” Eeyores back home would have it that Welland’s battle-cry has turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, but the facts tell a different story. There’s actually been an awful lot to celebrate over the last 30 years. Of the Major Oscars since (you can … Read more »Oscars wild!

Last Thursday evening, I joined the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) team in San Francisco and the “who’s who” of the technology and start up communities at the “Crunchies,” the veritable Oscars for tech companies. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting at an awards ceremony with 2,000 tech-gurus, but what I witnessed was an industry that celebrated innovation and success with pride. The tech industry is a confident … Read more »And the “Crunchie” goes to…