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Russia – 25 years of broken hopes and smashed dreams
8th March 2024
Gender equality is non-negotiable
9th January 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
2012 – a Great British year
As Britain’s Ambassador in Bucharest, I would like to extend an invitation to everyone in Romania to visit the United Kingdom this year. Over a hundred thousand Romanians visit the UK each year, but 2012 is going to be a special one with more reasons than ever before to make a trip to London and […]
8th January 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Christmas in summer, New Year’s Eve in Sydney
Well it wasn’t quite a barbie on the beach: we still felt it wouldn’t be Christmas without roast turkey and all the trim, but it was nice to spend Christmas afternoon relaxing in the sunshine. In some ways Australian Christmas is quite similar to British ones, with parties and carol services. But it’s also the […]
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6th January 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Is Ukraine Democratic?
In January 2011, I wrote a blog called “Is Ukraine free?” In it, I noted that for 2011, in the ranking produced by the US-based NGO Freedom House, Ukraine fell back into the “Partly Free” category, having been in the “Free” category every year since 2005. Being in the “Partly Free” category, with a score […]
5th January 2012 Washington DC, USA
Living the dream in Washington
When I was offered the dream job of Counsellor for Global Issues at the British Embassy in Washington DC, clearly I couldn’t refuse. It’s a dream job because of the range of issues my portfolio covers—diplomacy on trade, energy, the environment, transport, science and innovation—and because of the country and context, since the US is […]
5th January 2012 Toronto, Canada
Government aims to make UK "best place in the world to do science"
In a speech earlier this week, Universities and Science Minister David Willetts laid out the government’s ambition to make the UK “the best place in the world to do science.” However, he offered no new funding or support and spoke mostly about broad aims for growth. There were eight principal points from the speech. The […]
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5th January 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Jordan comes to Blackburn
One of my favourite Beatles songs is “A Day in the Life” which includes a line: “A read the news today, oh boy! Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire”. The line made no sense, but for me, a boy from London, it put Blackburn on the map. And Blackburn was on the map in Amman […]
4th January 2012 Toronto, Canada
TRRA releases Life Sciences Regional Innovation Cluster Report
The Toronto Region Research Alliance (TRRA) recently released a summary report on life sciences in the Toronto region, which is available to download here (PDF, 1.9 MB). The TRRA is an economic development organisation that aims to increase the region’s propersity by stimulating investment in research and innovation, and hence has close ties to the […]
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4th January 2012 Windhoek, Namibia
Marking UK and Namibian history in the making
Happy New Year to all! As noted in my previous blog, 2011 marked a significant strengthening of UK-Namibian relations. Looking forward, I am happy to say that 2012 already looks set to hold a number of significant events that will help boost our bilateral links further and provide plenty of reasons for celebration. This year, […]
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4th January 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Could Ukraine win the anti-corruption league?
Back in 2009 I wrote a blog entitled “How to win the anti-corruption league”. In that blog I lamented the fact that Ukraine now stood at place 146 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International. I noted how corruption reduced inward investment, and how helpful it would be if Ukraine could […]
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3rd January 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Early days
I have been in Addis Ababa for approaching 3 weeks as British Ambassador, some of which has been taken up by “Feranji” (Westerner) Christmas and New Year holidays. What does an Ambassador try to do at the outset of a posting? There have been several priorities (aside from settling in my family): Getting to know […]