Global conversations
My first visit to a polling station was not to vote, but as a poll clerk. From 6am until 10pm I sat in a draughty hall in Harrow, north London checking that the voters were on the electoral register, validating their ballot paper with a special machine and handing it to them so they could go into a polling booth and make their choice in secret. As the day wore … Read more »At the ballot box
I must be in hundreds of photos seen by people around the world. Not because I’m some global celebrity, but because I regularly walk or cycle over the bridge by the Houses of Parliament in London. Each time I do, I end up in the photos of tourists lining up to take pictures of the mother of all parliaments. While those photographs are recognised around the world, the Houses … Read more »“The Mother of all Parliaments” and the mother of all elections
Now, I’m not one who normally gets passionate about sport. I could have been certain that my first blog from Pakistan, where I recently arrived as the High Commission’s new Press Attaché, would not have been about sport. But, I am surprisingly doing just that. When I think of sport in Pakistan, cricket comes into my mind first. It is after all seemingly played on every spare patch of flat … Read more »Exploring Faisalabad
Written by an avid cricket fan and guest blogger from the British High Commission in Islamabad: A green cricketing outfield under a clear blue sky, the sound of leather on willow on warm sunny afternoon with a majestic church spire as a backdrop; this can only be a scene from my youthful cricketing days turning out for Wimbledon Village Cricket Club in the leafy Surrey countryside of England. But wait, something is not … Read more »Howzzat!!
It was my embarrassment and a Pakistani journalist’s passion for the English Lake District that got me there. I was dressed head to toe in waterproofs, having climbed 500m, and the rain was turning to hail and sleet. The crags in the peaks behind me were being smoothed out by the first snowfalls. In the distance England’s largest lake was glinting in low sunlight. Below, the valley was spread out in warm oranges and … Read more »“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her”
Brand new bed linen from one of the department stores for which London’s Oxford Street is famous. Unwrapping the layers of packaging I noticed the label: made in Pakistan. I wondered if it had come from the factory whose owner I had met in Lahore, where we discussed everything from electricity shortages, to labour law to the impact of international trading laws on Pakistan’s ability to compete and export. … Read more »Made in Pakistan: exporting the right image
When visiting my regular family summer holiday spot in North Wales each year as a child, it was unimaginable that one day I would be taking my first (and hopefully not my last) summer holiday in the Baltistan region of Pakistan. Since arriving on my diplomatic posting to Pakistan earlier this year at the British High Commission, Islamabad, I had been very keen to set out and explore the exciting … Read more »Summer Holidays in northern Pakistan; a far-flung cry from my childhood holidays in North Wales …
International Inspiration is part of the UK’s legacy programme, and has helped transform millions of lives around the world through the power of sport. On 28 June, 20 International Inspiration leaders, representing the 20 countries where International Inspiration has delivered its projects, will carry the Olympic Torch in Nottingham. Zainab Imran is selected as a torch bearer from Pakistan. We invited 16-year old Zainab to write as a guest blogger as she … Read more »I am proud to represent Pakistan as an Olympic torch bearer
It is 6.30 am Saturday morning in Lahore, the room service waiter points at the TV news and says “that’s you”. I agree that it is, as footage plays of a meeting I had the day before with Nawaz Sharif, PML-N political leader and twice former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and, Shabaz Sharif, his brother and the Chief Minister of Punjab. We watch as this is followed by shots from … Read more »Lahore: Vibrant, changing and modern
You’ve seen the photographs of the Prime Ministers outside the door of Number 10 Downing Street. But after the politicians and cameras have left, what does it add up to? I’m one of the behind-the-scenes people in London and Islamabad. You won’t see any of us in the photos, but we’re the ones who made it happen and now implement the decisions. I could roll off the official achievements from … Read more »When two Prime Ministers met: an insider’s view