21st June 2013 London, UK
“The time of an ‘ever closer union’ in every possible policy area is behind us”. So say the Dutch Government in their review of subsidiarity published today, a really important contribution to the debate on the future of Europe. You can find a press release in English here. Over the last few months, Dutch experts […]
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21st June 2013 London, UK
It has been over five years since Kosovo’s Assembly declared independence. Since 17 February 2008 many diverse countries, from Pakistan to Panama, from Swaziland to Sweden, have recognised Kosovo’s independence. And, this year, Guyana, Tanzania and Yemen have decided to join that number. Significantly, this means Kosovo is now recognised as an independent state by […]
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18th June 2013
At the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland yesterday, the EU and US embarked on the biggest trade deal ever negotiated. Despite the rise of the economies of Asia, the EU and the US remain the two giants of the world economy, accounting for half the world’s GDP between them. The US invests three times more […]
12th June 2013
Could you survive on $1.25 per day? I certainly couldn’t. But over 1 billion people round the world have to do so. These are the extreme poor. Poverty not only means that people lack food and shelter. It also means that they struggle to escape poverty because they also lack good education and healthcare. And it means that […]
14th May 2013
Much has been written about what makes a good leader. Books have analysed the nature of leadership. Business schools charge high fees to teach leadership skills to up-and-coming middle managers. And leadership gurus have made fortunes using clever sounding buzz-words such as “demonstrate integrity”, “build trust” and “inspire innovation”. This week I will be at […]
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14th May 2013 London, UK
A startling statistic – over half the businesses that get help from UK Trade & Investment go on to win additional sales of over £600,000 within two years. The UK’s trade performance is often discussed in the abstract, or at the macroeconomic level. People look at the effect on UK GDP or the balance of […]
13th May 2013 London, UK
I was in Dublin last week for Europe Day, where I gave a speech about the future of Europe. There is always a certain frisson when a European audience invites a British minister to speak. The late Baroness Thatcher said once that if you believed everything you read about our views on Europe, it would […]
10th May 2013 London, UK
In this guest blog, Hajah Aidah shares with us three poems that she wrote for the CSCLeaders conference , where she represented the Sultanate. CSCLeaders is a series of Conferences for exceptional leaders, which assembles individuals from across the Commonwealth to tackle challenges that government, businesses and society face today and builds the relationships needed […]
9th May 2013 London, UK
This week, at the British Embassy in Sarajevo, a memorial was unveiled to the 59 British personnel who lost their lives in the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s. Their sacrifice is a reminder of the strength of the UK’s commitment to a stable and secure Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the impact that conflict […]
3rd May 2013
One of the major attractions of becoming a diplomat is travel to different places. Of course, most diplomatic business is done in meetings inside offices, conference halls and other buildings. But diplomats need to get out and travel round the countries in which they work. Recently, I visited the town of Loyew (Ло́еў in Belarusian […]