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11th January 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
The Geneva Agenda for 2016
The Geneva institutions are facing big questions at the start of 2016. Will the humanitarian system adapt to the challenges of protracted conflicts and unsustainable mass migration? Will the World Trade Organization (WTO) rediscover its role at the heart of the global economy? Can we respond effectively to the growing threat of pandemics and the […]
8th January 2016
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
History and healing: remembering the Stuarts
On 8 January, with the gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen, I laid a wreath at the tomb in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica of James Francis Edward Stuart, 250 years after his burial there. The message on the wreath was very simple: “In memoriam – James Francis Edward Stuart – ‘The Chevalier’ […]
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8th January 2016
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Press Freedom in Turkey
I was proud to be one of a number of Consuls General, who visited the offices of Cumhuriyet on 6 January. We made the following statement, and handed over a signed text: “As representatives of EU consulates based in Istanbul, we wish for Turkish journalists across the whole political spectrum to be able to exercise […]
7th January 2016 Delhi, India
Indo-UK Conference on Emergency & Critical Care Services
The British Deputy High Commission Chandigarh organised an Indo-UK Conference on Emergency & Critical Care Services on 27th November 2015. UK-India collaboration in health Both India and the UK are now focussing on working together on healthcare and the main objectives of the conference were: 1) to allow UK and Indian organisations to explore the […]
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5th January 2016 British High Commission, Kingston, Jamaica
Helping Hands : Glenhope Nursery and Place of Safety
Led by the dynamic and devoted Sara Farr of our British High Commission community, the children of the Glenhope Nursery and Place of Safety in Jamaica eagerly welcome the growing international group which visits the home each Monday and Thursday morning to cuddle, play with, read to, teach and give the greatest gift that these children could receive, our […]
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4th January 2016 London, UK
Praise for our project work
We diplomats are not often praised for the way in which we spend public funds. The UK tabloids prefer to perpetuate the myth of the champagne-swilling cocktail party-goer. So it was nice to receive some positive feedback recently about one of our long standing bilateral projects in Turkey. My correspondent wrote “As a British taxpayer, […]
30th December 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Third World War?
Pope Francis has spoken frequently of his belief that the current state of instability in the world, overlain by the global threat of terrorism, is something akin to a “third world war fought piecemeal”. In his message for the World Day of Peace, he noted that, “sadly, war and terrorism, accompanied by kidnapping, ethnic or […]
29th December 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
OK, so what to make of the last year in Macedonia?
Everywhere you look in December and January there are people broadcasting their reviews of the year just gone. Facebook is especially popular for this. Log on now, and there’s a long list of friends grinning out at us, inviting us to check out their year in review. Looking at Macedonia, it’s not an easy call […]
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29th December 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
BurEUcratia: tackling unnecessary EU bureaucracy
Singer-songwriter Andreea is excited at an opportunity she has been given to perform abroad in another state of BurEUcratia. Her concert is a great success. Her new fans snap up her CDs and ask her where they can download her music. Andreea travels home buzzing with new ideas, and plans to raise the funds to […]
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28th December 2015 New Delhi, India
UK and India to work together to fight superbugs
Antimicrobials, our lifeline to modern medicine, are today under grave threat, with antimicrobial resistance sitting alongside climate change and terrorism on the Global Risk Register, as a global public health priority for the UK. Globally, by 2050, drug-resistant infections could cause 10 million extra deaths a year and have a cumulative cost of US$ 100 […]
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