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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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19th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
What Chicago Means for Afghanistan
The road from the previous NATO Summit in Lisbon to Chicago has had some bumps, but what the NATO/ISAF Alliance will focus on this weekend is the degree to which we have stuck the course and remained committed to Afghanistan’s future. At Lisbon, NATO and ISAF allies agreed that we would remain in a combat […]
18th May 2012 USA
GREAT British Music Rocks and Rolls Through The Years
The following is a guest post by Bob McNally, drummer for MADlantic, a local rock and roll cover band with US and UK band members. It is Music Week and Great Britain celebrates its long and outstanding tradition of rock and roll. Music is one of the great cultural ties between the US and the UK. The […]
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18th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Concrete and blood-red wax: British art in Kyiv
A feast of British art is heading for Kyiv. First up is a major new exhibition of sculptor Anish Kapoor. Kapoor has been one of my favourite artists since I saw his 1991 Turner Prize-winning exhibit at the old Tate Gallery (this was before the Tate Modern opened in 2000). Kapoor also has a work, called […]
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18th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I.O.R.
The acronym stands for “Istituto per le Opere di Religione”, or Institute for Religious Works. A typical Pontifical Institution, you might think, running standard charitable activities on behalf of good causes. Well, the I.O.R. does that too. But it is better known, if misleadingly, as “the Vatican Bank”. This week, Ambassadors accredited to the Holy […]
18th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Freestyle Olympics
This morning I was again helping raise the London 2012 flag in front of our Embassy, to mark the arrival of the Olympic Flame in the UK. This time I was assisted by Yanet Siyoum, a young and promising Ethiopian swimmer, who is preparing not just for the Olympic Games but also her college exams. […]
17th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
A GREAT Embassy Open House
It isn’t every day that you walk out of your house to find 10,000 people on your lawn. But on Saturday, for EU Embassy Open House day, that is what happened to me. From the time gates opened at 10:00—with quite a queue already formed—until they closed at 4:00, a steady stream of visitors turned […]
17th May 2012 Athens, Greece
Visiting the Parthenon on the eve of the Handover Ceremony
Yesterday HRH The Princess Royal arrived in Athens to attend the Olympic Flame Handover Ceremony, which takes place in just a few hours at the Kallimarmaro Stadium. Early evening yesterday, accompanied by British Ambassador David Landsman, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson, and Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Princess Anne arrived at the […]
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17th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Olympic flame heading to London: The excitement is growing
The immediate run-down to the London 2012 opening ceremony has begun. During an hour-long ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, the Olympic Flame was handed to HRH The Princess Royal, who is leading a UK Delegation which includes Lord Coe, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson. The Panathenaic Stadium […]
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17th May 2012 Windhoek, Namibia
Chargéing’ in Windhoek
Guest blog by new British High Commission Windhoek Deputy High Commissioner Simon Atkinson: As a diplomat, there’s a (worrying) tinge of homeliness about airports. Not that I enjoy them much, more that they’ve become very familiar. As I perch on the latest bit of uncomfortable plastic (wishing the sense of homeliness would miraculously transform it into […]
17th May 2012 Budapest, Hungary
Holding back the tears
I’ve been away from Budapest for the last two weeks. For the first time I went back to London to the annual gathering of all British Ambassadors from around the world. It was my first time there and so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the week was really good. The PM, Chancellor and […]