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Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
21st March 2012 Harare, Zimbabwe
Taking up the reins in Helmand Province
I arrived in Lashkar Gah on 9th March and took up my new role at precisely 10.45 on 12 March during a “Transfer of Authority” ceremony as it is known in military speak. At the US HQ base in Helmand – Camp Leatherneck, General Toolan – the US Marine Commander – transferred authority to his […]
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21st March 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Lviv awakes
There are many excellent cities in Ukraine. But I have always had a soft spot for Lviv since I spent two weeks staying with a family there to learn Ukrainian. It’s also where I started blogging. So I was delighted to visit the city again this month for meetings with regional and city politicians; to […]
21st March 2012 Bucharest, Romania
World Champion now also at the veladrome!
Eduárd Novák (36 yrs old) , cyclist from the Tusnad Cycling Team, Miercuri Ciuc, Romania has become world champion for the third time, after he took gold in the 4 km pursuit race at the veladrome, at the Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles. Eduárd succeeded in defeating the Czech rider Jiri Jezek, the […]
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21st March 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Doing business in emerging Europe
Britain is a trading nation. In most markets in the world – Asia, Africa, America, and the Middle East – the UK holds a disproportionately large share of inward investment and exports. But not, unfortunately, in central and eastern Europe. For whatever reason UK companies still lag behind their German, French and Austrian competitors in […]
21st March 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A European success story
The EU is not flavour of the month, or even the year. The media – including the Vatican’s l’Osservatore Romano and Vatican Radio – is full of stories of economic and political crisis, loss of global influence, and the problems of the euro. Even friends wonder whether “Europe”, or the EU in particular, has had […]
20th March 2012 Washington DC, USA
The US and Great Britain: Different processes for shared goals
On March 21st at 12:30 London time (8:30 on the East Coast), the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, will unveil his 2012 Budget to the British Parliament. The word ‘Budget’ comes from the French term ‘bougette’, meaning little bag. But rather than thinking about ‘little bags’, whenever I mention the Budget to American friends, they […]
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20th March 2012 London, UK
More British nationals in the EU civil service can transform our influence
The UK represents 12% of the EU’s population yet it currently only makes up 4.8% of the EU’s Civil Service workforce. In 2011 British applicants accounted for only 2.6% of all applicants, lower than any other EU Member State. I believe that a shortage of British staff undermines our influence in the EU. The EU […]
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20th March 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Buzzwords, Barclays, and a Ukrainian economic success
Do you know your C++ from your Sybase? Do you know the difference between SQL and ORM? If you do, high-paying jobs could be yours – in Kyiv, Lviv or Kharkiv. Back in summer 2010 I blogged about how UK-based Barclays Capital, working with EPAM Systems, had chosen Kyiv for its third global technology centre, […]
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19th March 2012 Washington DC, USA
The essential relationship — faster, higher, stronger
It was pretty much impossible to look at a newspaper, news programme, tweet or blog last week without being met by numerous photographs of David Cameron and Barack Obama sharing a joke, or their quotes about the essential relationship shared by the US and UK. They even wrote a piece together for the Washington Post. […]
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19th March 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
Good Manners and Bad Behaviour
It’s been a strange week. Even during the frenzied latter stages of a Human Rights Council session you expect the UN to be a courteous place. Anything less than model behaviour would feel out of place in an organisation devoted to peace and harmony and based in a country whose last outbreak of anything resembling […]