8th January 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
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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16th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Australian readers of this blog will be wondering what the latest headlines about the UKs’ relationship with Europe are all about. The complexities of Europe’s institutional structures are hard enough to follow if you’re living there, let alone observing the continent from 10,000 miles away. In essence, the latest developments flow from the problems of […]
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14th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I had the very pleasant experience today of conducting my first Citizenship Ceremony, in which we conferred British citizenship on seven people at the High Commission in Canberra. They were all Australians who were acquiring citizenship through family links or through naturalisation after living in the UK for some time. It used to be the case […]
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5th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I was honoured to be the guest speaker at University College London’s (UCL) first ever overseas graduation ceremony in Adelaide last week. UCL is a great British institution, regularly ranked in the top ten universities in the world. It recently established its first overseas campus – a School of Energy and Resources – in South […]
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2nd December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I was in Sydney this week with the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, who are conducting a study on gambling. The group consisted of three Conservatives, one Lib Dem and one Labour MP, and was led by committee chair John Whittingdale MP, who I used to work with 25 years ago […]
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25th November 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Our Armed Forces Minister, Nick Harvey MP, was in Canberra and Sydney this week. He had a series of meetings with the Defence Department Ministerial team – Stephen Smith, Warren Snowdon and Jason Clare, and met a very broad range of senior officials and military officers. There was much to talk about. The Minister and […]
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18th November 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Hot on the heels of the visit by HM The Queen, Canberra played host to US President Obama this week. I attended a dinner at the Parliament and a key note speech he gave to a joint session of both houses of Parliament. By chance I found myself sitting next to PM Gillard’s partner Tim […]
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14th November 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Last week I accompanied Sir Gus O’Donnell, Head of the British Civil Service for some calls in Canberra on his way back from CHOGM. He met Australia’s “200 Group”, a collection of the country’s top 200 federal civil servants, and gave a fascinating talk drawing on his experience of delivering change, and improved performance across […]
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8th November 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Last week Sarah and I were invited to attend the Melbourne Cup, the race that famously “stops the nation”. In British terms it seems to be the equivalent of Ascot, the Grand National and the Derby all rolled into one. It’s an unmissable Aussie experience. We were very fortunate to be able to join the […]
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4th November 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I’m back in Canberra after a very hectic week in Perth. We had a busy programme around the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). It was good to see so many UK ministers in Australia. Early in the week I was accompanying Lord Green the Trade Minister. He attended the Commonwealth Business Forum which attracted […]
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