Head of Soft Power and External Affairs Department, Communication Directorate
14th November 2017
The story of how the United Kingdom played a central role in the building of the city of Constanta has its origins in the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and the growing realisation that the British Isles were no longer self–sufficient in food. Across Western Europe other governments were grappling with similar challenges of […]
19th September 2017
George Enescu, who died in 1955, is Romania’s most celebrated composer. A child prodigy, he wrote an opus for piano and violin entitled “Romanian Land” at the age of five. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory and then the Conservatoire de Paris. As well as a prolific composer, he was a distinguished conductor, and was […]
19th September 2017
One of the strands of the Embassy’s current #BritainInRomania campaign is to highlight all of the cities in Romania in which the UK has ever had a consulate or other form of diplomatic representation. This took me earlier this month to Focșani, capital of the county of Vrancea, some three hours drive to the north […]
2nd August 2017
The UK is currently negotiating with our partners on our withdrawal from the European Union, following the outcome of the referendum in June last year. But as Prime Minister Theresa May has underlined, while we are leaving the EU we are not leaving Europe. We are determined to develop our deep and special partnerships with […]
30th May 2017
As part of our #BritainInRomania activities, exploring the history of the rich British links with Romania, the Embassy held a series of events in Galati and Tulcea counties earlier this month. I joined the Director of the Galati History Museum for a seminar highlighting the work of the former British Consulate in that city, and […]
5th January 2017
January is a time for looking both back and forward, rather like the Roman God Janus. Here’s a personal selection of a dozen of the highlights of a busy and productive 2016 at the British Embassy Bucharest. In January I was in London for the DIT Civil Nuclear Showcase, talking to UK companies in the […]
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6th December 2016
The small town of Sangeorgiu de Padure, in Mures County in the heart of Transylvania, has a mostly ethnic Hungarian population and an unexpected connection to the British Royal Family. At the heart of the town is the two-storey white-walled Rhedey Castle, actually more palace than castle, which dates originally from the 17th century, though […]
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29th November 2016
Ghidigeni is a village, easily overlooked, in southern Moldova, just off the main road between Tecuci and Barlad. Just next door to the town hall a locked metal gate stands in front of the Chrissoveloni Palace, built in the late 19th century in a French neoclassical style, but having endured a particularly tough history. I […]
21st November 2016
I was really pleased to host last week with the Romanian Ministry of Culture and the NGO Monumentum an event which highlighted two new initiatives to help in the raising awareness about, and preservation of, Romania’s cultural patrimony. The first was the “Ambulance for Monuments” project being piloted by Monumentum in Southern Transylvania; a means […]
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11th October 2016
There seems to be a burgeoning range of international days throughout the year designated to raise awareness of all manner of causes and initiatives. Many of these are accompanied by suggested activities, often with a fundraising scope, linked to the theme of the day. I am by nature susceptible to the lure of these. In […]