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A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
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28th May 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Debate and Democracy
A couple of years ago I attended a debate in Zarqa in which teams of young people debated the merits of nuclear power. All the participants engaged in the debate in a disciplined way, marshalling their arguments, responding to their opponents’ points and bringing passion and patience to a controversial subject. Both teams had been […]
28th May 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Briefing the Party Room
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop invited me to address the Coalition “Party Room” last night. Around a quarter of the party’s parliamentary members attended. I talked about three things. – What’s going on in the UK – the recent European election results, the forthcoming Scottish referendum, and the return to sustainable economic growth – UK thinking […]
27th May 2014 Washington DC, USA
EU Day: Invitation Received
A nice aspect of my job is that I rarely find myself at the Embassy on a weekend, but earlier this month I happened to spend the better part of a Saturday volunteering my time. It was a special occasion: on 10 May, EU embassies throughout Washington opened their doors for the EU’s Annual Open […]
27th May 2014 Ottawa, Canada
Celebrating world trade
Rather embarrassingly for someone in my line of work, I was completely unaware it was World Trade Month until my colleague Thomas Whitehead in Washington blogged about the subject…
27th May 2014 New Delhi, India
New Indian Minister for Science and Technology sworn in
With around 550 million voters deciding the fate of 15000 candidates spanning 500 political parties, India saw the biggest elections in history which lasted over a period of 5 weeks. The result was a clear parliamentary majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and, the new Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi. This is […]
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27th May 2014 London, UK
We share Turkey’s sorrow
I was in the UK last week, attending the annual Leadership Conference of British diplomatic Heads of Mission, when news of the Soma mining accident broke. It was clear at once that this was a serious incident and the news quickly got gloomier and gloomier. We now know that 301 miners lost their lives. In […]
27th May 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria
Bulgaria – Where My Teaching Journey Began
by Phil Dexter Phil Dexter worked as British Council teacher and Teacher Coordinator in Sofia in the period 1987-1994. In Bulgaria, he set up and developed centres for self-access English lessons for students from secondary foreign language schools – a project that is now successfully used in other British Council representatives around the world. Phil has many dear memories from […]
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27th May 2014 Sana’a, Yemen
Building an education, building the future
There are many immediate urgent challenges in Yemen: preventing violence, achieving a peaceful political transition, balancing the books, and responding to a humanitarian crisis to name a few. The urgency of these issues, however, should not blind us to challenges that are equally important, but less immediately apparent or urgent. Education is a classic example. […]
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27th May 2014 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Ust-Yurt
I recently joined a visit by a UN team to the Ust-Yurt plateau in Karakalpakstan. The UN were there in connection with their joint programme that works on education, health, prosperity and environment issues in Karakalpakstan. For me it was an opportunity to find out more about the UN’s work here but also to see […]
26th May 2014 Toronto, Canada
SIN to support the Coalition of Centres in Global Child Health
The Coalition of Centres in Global Child Health, launched in July 2013, is a platform for academic centers of excellence to collaborate on child survival, health and development. Headquartered at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, it focuses on capacity building, advocacy, knowledge generation, evidence translation and creating institutional linkages. There are currently over […]
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