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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?
13th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Rule of law in Ukraine: when more and more means less and less
‘Surely,’ my Ukrainian interlocutor says, ‘you must accept that Tymoshenko is guilty of something, even if it’s impossible to prove. Everybody knows it. Look how many things she is being charged with.’ ‘But without a credible legal process,’ I say, ‘the charges are meaningless. Adding more and more charges simply makes the legal process look […]
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13th December 2011 Athens, Greece
Greek-British maritime cooperation: A success story
Shipping is a key activity for us in the Commercial section in the British Embassy in Athens. It is by far the healthiest and most dynamic sector of the Greek economy and a field where Greece and the UK have had a long history of successful cooperation. Bearing in mind that Greeks control the world’s […]
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13th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Has Europe Lost its Soul?
The chatter in Europe over the last few weeks has been dominated by the economic crisis. Can the Euro be saved? Is Britain isolated? Who is to blame? What do the markets think? The Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Lord Jonathan Sacks, also discussed the European economic crisis during his […]
8th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Corporate raiding a serious threat to the Ukrainian economy
The UNIAN news agency interviewed me this week. In case you have not seen it you can read the full interview here (in English) or here (in Ukrainian).
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7th December 2011 Ottawa, Canada
SIN podcast: Dr. Adrian Bird on epigenetics
The Gairdner Awards are Canada’s foremost international awards, given to outstanding medical researchers who have made a significant contribution to the quality of human life. The 2011 recipients include Dr. Michael Hayden, Dr. Jules Hoffmann (who also won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine) and Dr. Adrian Bird of the University of Edinburgh. […]
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7th December 2011 London, UK
Thoughts from the OSCE Ministerial Council
I commend the Lithuanian Chairmanship in Office which has pursued a challenging agenda for the OSCE this year and I hope this Ministerial Council will both consolidate their excellent efforts and commit to realising future positive change across the OSCE area and beyond. I take a very keen interest in what has been happening in […]
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7th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Romania – better transport, less greenhouse gas
Yesterday I opened a new intermodal transport hub in the west of Bucharest, a new 6.4 million euro British investment in Romania run by the company Tibbett Logistics. This state-of-the-art terminal will allow freight trains to be off-loaded right in the centre of “Europolis”, the main industrial park in Bucharest. It’s an important development for […]
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7th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Ukrainian economy: how to be optimistic
It’s often said that bureaucrats and businessmen do not mix. But the opposite is true when I hold a reception at the residence to mark the national rollout of “Youth Business Ukraine”. I’m often accused of being too optimistic about Ukraine. Others accuse me of being too pessimistic. But it’s difficult not to be optimistic […]
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7th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Holy See joins International Organisation for Migration
Good news this week as the Holy See on 5 December joined the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Why is this important? The Holy See’s “Ambassador” (Permanent Observer) to the UN in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, summed it up well in an interview he gave to Vatican Radio: “as we are witnessing a continuous […]
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6th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Manufacturing – it’s what the UK’s still good at and we’re going to get even stronger.
The Cleveland Indians, the Cleveland Browns, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Buckeyes. That’s just a few of the things associated with Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, home of my in-laws. But manufacturing has also traditionally been a part of Cleveland and Ohio’s landscape too. I was in Cleveland on 31 October and 1 November […]
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