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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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Good English – A Key to Panama’s Future Success
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9th May 2012 Guatemala City, Guatemala
Building on British Week success: back in Quetzaltenango
Two months ago we were in the middle of British Week 2012, and 10 events in 9 days aimed at raising further the UK’s commercial profile in Guatemala. Two months on and we are returning the scene of one of the Week’s major successes, Guatemala’s second city, Quetzaltenango, or Xela as it’s also known. To […]
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9th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
Hacking for innovation: from Silicon Valley to a parking space near you
I think I first started longing to go to San Francisco as I read my way through Amistead Maupin’s famous Tales of the City series. The books depict said city as a colourful whirl of decadence and debauchery, with a quirky cast of characters that rendered my own friends and neighbours disappointingly pedestrian by comparison. […]
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9th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Kirk in Rome
I am often asked whether my role as British Ambassador to the Holy See is to represent British Catholics. Or whether I have ex officio a particular relationship with the Catholic hierarchies of England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland (at least, the Northern Ireland end). My reply is yes. I do represent the British government, […]
9th May 2012 New Delhi, India
Science and Innovation in Thiruvananthapuram
Where I visit Thiruvananthapuram, a city with an exciting portfolio of science & innovation, and discover that you can travel 6000 miles around the globe but still find a connection to your roots.
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8th May 2012 Dublin, Ireland
Those magnificent men in their flying machines
On Sunday, I realised a lifelong ambition. I flew for the first time in an open biplane, a 1939 Tiger Moth, owned by a great friend of the Embassy Jacek Mainka. Not only was it an extraordinary experience to fly in a 73-year-old aircraft, but it was also a poignant moment since my father learnt […]
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7th May 2012 Windhoek, Namibia
Flying the Olympic flag in Namibia
Guest blog by Sonny Beukes, British High Commission Windhoek Press and Public Affairs officer. There was a big commotion at Wernhil Park in central Windhoek last Saturday, 28 April. Olympic banners and flags decorated the openspace in front of Pick n Pay where the British High Commission, in collaboration with the Namibia National Olympic Committee and […]
7th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Cocktail of Ambassadors
What’s the collective noun for Ambassadors? A canapé of diplomats? A gang? A horde? Or just a corps? Hopefully not a corpse! Perhaps a Cocktail of Ambassadors, but that risks feeding the erroneous perception of diplomats as pleasure-seeking, gin-and-tonic swilling, expense-account nonentities. Which is far from the truth. Google failed to provide an answer. Most […]
7th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
From Port Talbot to Pune, via Coventry – Tata Spanning The UK- India Relationship
Not surprisingly, given the Tata Group’s major interests in the UK, I spend a good deal of time meeting representatives from the company. Most weeks I see someone from the one of the Group’s many divisions, and April has been no exception. Shortly after Easter we welcomed to Mumbai the First Minister of Wales, the […]
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4th May 2012 Guatemala City, Guatemala
Doing more with Honduras
The UK’s relations with Honduras are important, and a key part of this Embassy’s work is to build on the commitment to strengthen them. With this in mind, last week two members of our team spent three days in Tegucigalpa talking about issues important to both our countries: human rights, prosperity, security, consular, climate change, […]
4th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Getting our marching orders in London
I’m back in the UK for the annual Leadership Conference that brings together all our ambassadors from around the world, to be updated on the policy and corporate management priorities which will focus our work over the coming year. The strongest message was the importance of the Prosperity agenda, the work that our overseas FCO and UKTI […]