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13th February 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The new Parliamentary year in Canberra
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop attended a reception I hosted last night to welcome new Members of Parliament to Canberra, at the start of the Parliamentary year following the long Christmas/Summer break. With huge British investments here (we’re the second largest foreign investor), 1.1 million Brits living in Australia, 600,000 visiting each year and a million […]
11th February 2014 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Taking steps to combat human trafficking
This is a guest blog by Deputy British High Commissioner to Brunei Sunny Ahmed about “The Promotion of Access to Justice for Female Victims of Violence in Trafficking Cases” workshop held from 3 to 5 February that resulted in the production of gender sensitive guidelines on comprehensive support for women who are trafficked. Last week […]
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11th February 2014 Toronto, Canada
Canadian science news: 3-9 February 2014
Trouble reading this story or moving through pages? Check it out on Storify here: http://storify.com/SINCanada/canadian-science-news-3-9-february-2014 [View the story ” Canadian science news: 3-9 February 2014″ on Storify]
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11th February 2014 Budapest, Hungary
GB United – Videoton Friendly Football Match
Guest Blog by Ben Luckock, Head of Policy Team at British Embassy Budapest Just over sixty years ago Hungary beat England 6-3 at Wembley. For England, the defeat led to a fundamental review of antiquated training and tactics and the adoption of more continental methods. Sir Bobby Robson said of the game: “We saw a […]
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11th February 2014 Paris, France
Celebrating London and Paris, past and future
We are now in the Bicentenary year for the Residence – 200 years ago, the Duke of Wellington bought this house from Pauline, the sister of Napoléon. To celebrate that, we are running a series of events through the year, highlighting both the past and the future of UK-French relations.
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11th February 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Legacy of Benedict XVI
Much is likely to be written over the next few days about the legacy of Pope Benedict, a year since he announced he would be stepping down from office. No doubt many will be ready with their “compare and contrast” pieces, setting up one Pope against the other. Whatever we think of that approach, I […]
10th February 2014 Madrid, Spain
Diplomacy in the community
The Embassy moved into the Torre Espacio, in the North of Madrid, a few years ago. One of the benefits of moving here was to find ourselves as neighbours to La Paz Hospital – one of the best public sector hospitals in Spain. Over the years we have got to know the hospital well. Since […]
10th February 2014 Mumbai, India
Cool ties between India and the UK
I was privileged to attend an event at IISER Pune, late October last year, focused on the importance of academia-industry partnerships, the barriers that come in the way of such partnerships and possible solutions. I gave an overview of the existing UK-India innovation partnerships and the different funding schemes in place to help augment such […]
9th February 2014 Sana’a, Yemen
PROGRESS WILL BE PERSONAL
Every Yemeni and their international friends know that the real test of Yemen’s political transition process will be whether it improves the lives of most Yemenis. Progress won’t happen overnight: significant structural reforms are needed and corruption needs to be tackled before there are real improvements. Life in Yemen is tough: in 2005, 18% of […]
9th February 2014 Tripoli, Libya
Brits Don’t Do Culture – Or Do They?
When I first arrived in Doha last July, I was verging on the sceptical when I heard about the Qatar/UK 2013 Year of Culture. It didn’t sound particularly British, despite our popular cultural icons and their global reach. I’m as proud of James Bond, JK Rowling and One Direction as anyone, but when it comes […]