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RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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The climate crisis and gender-based violence
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Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
10th October 2013 Brasilia, Brazil
Hopeful signs for a diplomatic “abacaxi”
One of the first slang expressions I learnt in Portuguese was abacaxi (pineapple in English) used to describe a difficult issue. Iran’s relations with the international community could be described as an abacaxi. But are we at a moment of change in those relations with the arrival of President Rouhani? Since 2005, I have been […]
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10th October 2013 Ottawa, Canada
CETA and TTIP (or how 1 + 1 = 3)
A study co-produced by my colleagues in Washington, TTIP and the Fifty States, got me thinking about the benefits to be had from a conclusion to both CETA negotiations and the recently started TTIP talks …
10th October 2013 British High Commission, Kingston, Jamaica
The Death Penalty in the English Speaking Caribbean: A Jamaican Perspective
When the English-speaking Caribbean countries attained independence in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s, their new sovereign Constitutions contained Bills of Rights which created a new and critical opportunity for attacking the death penalty. Each of these Constitutions now contained fundamental rights guarantees against cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment or treatment and in favour of fair trials.
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10th October 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Travels in the East
I have just spent a couple of days in Kassala and Gadarif. I know that some people think it is strange for Ambassadors to make visits outside the capital. Of course most of my business is with the Government in Khartoum. But I am the ambassador to Sudan, not to Khartoum. It’s important not to […]
10th October 2013 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
The Queen’s Baton on its way to Brunei
Yesterday, I watched snippets from Buckingham Palace of the launch of The Queen’s Baton Relay on the news. This is a much enjoyed tradition in the run up to every Commonwealth Games where Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II places inside the baton a message to the Commonwealth. The baton will now travel 190,000 kilometres to […]
9th October 2013 Cape Town, South Africa
World Day against the Death Penalty
10 October is World Day against the Death Penalty. Since 2003, people all over the world have, on this day, been making clear their opposition to this form of punishment. Like many people who live in countries which, like South Africa and the UK, have abolished the death penalty, I don’t actually think about it that often.
9th October 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Protect Life: End the Death Penalty
10 October is the 11th World Day against the Death Penalty. The campaign represents an alliance of 145 NGOs, bar associations, unions and other bodies – including Catholic organisations like the Community of Sant’Egidio – that was set up in Rome on 13 May 2002.The United Kingdom, which supports its work, campaigns for worldwide abolition […]
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9th October 2013 New Delhi, India
Nobel Pursuit of the Higgs Boson
Yesterday the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Professor Peter Higgs from the University of Edinburgh and Professor François Englert from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. It was awarded for their work , in the 1960s, predicting the existence of the Higgs Boson. I’m not a physicist, so if you want to know […]
9th October 2013 Toronto, Canada
Canadian science news: 30 September-6 October 2013
[View the story “Canadian science news: 30 September-6 October 2013” on Storify]
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9th October 2013 Beirut, Lebanon
Lebanon: Optimists, Pessimists and Realists
A former British Ambassador here was asked at the end of a radio interview what he would like for Christmas. Thinking it typical Lebanese generosity but not wanting to be too greedy, he gave a modest reply. Listening to the broadcast later, he was shocked to hear several envoys asked the same question. The US […]
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