18th July 2019 Madrid
A few weeks ago I spoke to some FCO new entrants about social media and diplomacy. They were quite an intimidating audience not least since I assumed that most of them had already forgotten more about social media than I would ever learn. I explained how digital diplomacy had been perhaps the area of my […]
21st January 2016 Madrid, Spain
I was very pleased to be able to welcome a group of over 20 smaller British companies to the Embassy this week. They were each highly successful in the UK in their particular sectors and were each looking to broaden their horizons and develop their business in Spain. Here in the Embassy we have an […]
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22nd December 2015 Madrid, Spain
During the Kosovo crisis in 1999 I saw at first hand the tens of thousands of Kosovar Albanian refugees seeking shelter in neighbouring countries. It showed me the utter misery of being a refugee, fleeing for your life, with your barest possessions, struggling to look after your loved ones, facing uncertainty and vulnerability. Those memories […]
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6th November 2015 Madrid, Spain
On 4 November I had the pleasure of speaking in Bilbao about the importance of Business and Human Rights at the III Conference on “Gestión responsable en Derechos Humanos por parte de las empresas” which was organised by Sonrisas de Bombay, Business and Human Rights, The Rights Factory and Deusto Business School. The UK Government’s […]
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19th August 2015 Madrid, Spain
Spain receives the largest number of UK visitors anywhere in the world, by a long shot: around 15m last year. We have around 300,000 British nationals registered as living here permanently. And we work closely with Spain on a whole host of important bilateral and global issues. We are a great example of dynamic diplomacy […]
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24th July 2015 Madrid, Spain
On 6 July, I had the pleasure to introduce a concert by the King Solomon Academy Orchestra at La Paz Hospital in Madrid. The British Embassy has a long and happy relationship with La Paz Hospital, including hosting an annual Christmas party for the children who are patients there. They have also designed the official […]
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6th July 2015 Madrid, Spain
I spent a lot of March, April, May and June preparing, discussing, drafting, revising, finalising, submitting, quality controlling and validating staff performance appraisals. I reckon I was involved in well over 100. I know many of my colleagues will have worked on many, many more. It’s important work so it has to be rigorous, transparent […]
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18th February 2015 Madrid, Spain
I’ve blogged before about Science and Diplomacy. For the UK, science is a real force for generating economic growth, fostering collaboration between international partners and improving living standards everywhere. That’s why we have a network of Science and Innovation officers working in our embassies around the world, including here in Madrid: Spain is an important […]
10th December 2014 Madrid, Spain
Today, 10 December is International Human Rights Day. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to discuss human rights issues last week with a group of students from the British Council School. Here is a summary of my presentation to them. The UK is extremely active when it comes to promoting human rights. The Foreign […]
4th December 2014 Madrid, Spain
It was a real pleasure to welcome a group of Masters students from the Universidad Europea Madrid to the Embassy last week. With a number of my colleagues I was able to explain the work of the Embassy and Consulates across Spain. We discussed a range of foreign policy and global issues, before concluding with […]
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