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5th March 2014 Warsaw, Poland
Lord Livingston’s Central European Diary – Day 3
The Lord is really setting a hot pace on this 5 day CEE sprint. A GREAT Reception, GREAT Dinner, GREAT Photoshoot in Krakow’s main square and following a few hours’ sleep the Megamission is up at the crack of dawn and onto the Czech Republic. Destination Brno. Following a quick breakfast the Minister is off […]
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5th March 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria
Being British Ambassador to Bulgaria in the 70s
by John Cloake John Cloake is a former British Ambassador to Bulgaria (1976-1980). When we invited him to contribute to the 100 Years UK in BG blog, he came back to us saying that he holds “many good memories of Bulgaria” and that has always thought that the British Ambassador’s Residence in Sofia was “the […]
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5th March 2014 Warsaw, Poland
Say Cheese – Say St Duthac
Tain (Gaelic: Baile Dhubhthaich, Duthac’s town) is a former royal burgh of Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It is on the A9 road which links the south of Scotland with Caithness in the far north. Little is known of the earlier history of the town although it owed much of its importance to […]
5th March 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Worst Form of Government
Winston Churchill once said that: “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.” His cynicism was perhaps justified after the British people voted him out from his position as Prime Minister within months of winning the Second World War. Whether it is the worst form of […]
4th March 2014 Boston, USA
Discovering what it takes to be an entrepreneur
When I was a college student in chemistry (not that long ago), the general career goal associated with “making it” in my field involved thinking big – as in working for big university or big company. While entrepreneurship certainly existed back then, it hadn’t made it very far into my world. The only entrepreneurs I […]
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4th March 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
What do governments talk to the Holy See about?
I hope that regular readers of this blog will already know the answer to this question. As Ambassador to the Holy See, I find myself engaging with the Holy See on a wide range of issues covering British foreign policy priorities and Holy See concerns, across our respective global networks. Perhaps a couple of examples […]
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4th March 2014 Washington DC, USA
My New Hero: Dr Denis Mukwege
On Tuesday evening at Georgetown University, the UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague, received an award from his friend and former US counterpart, Hillary Clinton. The award recognizes his leadership in steering the energies of the British government into the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, an international project to end the use of rape and sexual assault […]
4th March 2014 Warsaw, Poland
Say Cheese – The Impulsive Guide to GREAT British Cheese in Poland
Piesek P is on the lookout for GREAT British Cheese in Poland – as he finds it he’ll let you know – just smile. Say Cheese and off we go on our GREAT Cheese tour of Poland. With over 700 named types of GREAT British cheese, that’s about twice as many in France, for you […]
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4th March 2014 Warsaw, Poland
Lord Livingston’s Central European Diary – Day 2
GREAT to start the day off in Warsaw yesterday. A marathon of a day promoting GREAT British Polish opportunity. I launched a brand new ‘Business is GREAT – come to the UK – You’re Welcome!’ campaign. The UK is the leading inward investment destination in Europe. Polish companies you’re invited! Lord Livingston enjoyed a number […]
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4th March 2014 New Delhi, India
A Social event in Bangalore
In February, we had a delegation from the UK to discuss social media analytics and web science with Indian counterparts. The workshop was hosted by IIIT-B and run in collaboration with Cognizant, ESRC and the RCUK Digital Economy Programme. We had presentations from a wide range of contributors (Indian and British, academia and industry, computer […]