Philip Parham
UK Commonwealth Envoy, former British Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates
Read biography
2nd September 2015
London, UK
Yesterday I returned to the UAE. The Middle Eastern destination I have frequented the most since becoming a Member of the UK’s Parliament. I am delighted to be back and witness yet again the generosity of the Emirati culture and the common ties which bind us; from regional security matters to growing commercial ties covering […]
Read more on The United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates: strategic partners for generations to come | Reply
29th March 2015
London, UK
In 2015, England marks two major anniversaries. It will be 800 years since the Magna Carta was sealed and 750 years since the formation of the first English parliament. Anyone who is interested in seeing the document that has been described as England’s greatest export need only visit the British Library, where not one but […]
Read more on Guest blog: Paul Fox Charge d’affaires – Celebrating three great English exports in 2015 | Reply (2)
8th March 2015
London, UK
20 years ago, the fourth “World Conference on Women” met in Beijing from 4-15 September 1995. The conference launched a historical document to promote and protect women’s rights around the world: The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The declaration stated that all participating governments would work to advance the goals of equality, development and […]
Read more on Guest blog: Muna Harib AlMuhairi – International Women’s Day | Reply (2)
2nd February 2015
London, UK
Ten years ago, the UN General Assembly designated 27 January the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Why? The Nazis’ murder of six million Jews, along with several million other concentration camps victims, is not the only example of humanity’s capacity for brutality on a huge scale. Indeed, sadly, […]
Read more on To find out about things | Reply
13th January 2015
London, UK
The so-called Islamic State has no credibility. It is founded on fear. We – an international community inspired by our common humanity – will defeat it. As 2015 opens up before us, and as we reflect on the events of the past year, the actions of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria stand […]
Read more on Together, we will consign Da’esh to the forgotten footnotes of history | Reply (1)
2nd November 2014
London, UK
For as long as they have recorded themselves, humans have divided time – by the cycles of the sun (or rather the earth) and the moon, by the visibility of the constellations, by the migration of prey and the growth of crops, and by the anniversaries of the events and heroes through whose prisms they […]
Read more on What’s in a date? | Reply (1)
3rd September 2014
London, UK
This month marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. That appalling conflict – often still known as the Great War – devastated a generation. My mother’s father, born in 1899, was one of nine grandsons of his mother’s father. Of those nine, six fell in that war. My grandfather himself, aged […]
Read more on Nato summit comes at a pivotal moment | Reply (5)