8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
10th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Walking 358km in the footsteps of Gandhi
On Thursday 18 November forty people gathered pre-dawn at one of India’s most historic sites, the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, where Mahatma Gandhi lived for many years. The occasion was the beginning of an India-UK Friendship Walk, which my wife Jill has organised with massive support from members of the Association of British Scholars in […]
Read more on Walking 358km in the footsteps of Gandhi | Reply
9th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Human rights in Ukraine
In the mid 1970s I flew from London to Johannesburg via Madrid in order to get the cheapest fare. During the stopover at Madrid airport I was waiting to buy a newspaper at a shop when I was elbowed out of the way by an immensely solid Guardia Civil officer in a shiny black hat […]
8th December 2010 Geneva, Switzerland
The 5 year review and a spot of eavesdropping
I hope you’re all keeping warm. Like some other places in Europe, winter arrived particularly early in Geneva this year and caught the usually well prepared Swiss road and rail and services off guard last week. I miss the lengthy conversations about the weather which I used to hear wherever I went back home in […]
Read more on The 5 year review and a spot of eavesdropping | Reply
8th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A little help from my friends: part 2
The harrowing media pictures of Hungary’s red sludge disaster are the past. The clear-up is underway, but other people’s problems have displaced the red sludge from the headlines. So what is life in the affected villages like now? And how is remediation work progressing? I was hoping to join a field trip to the site […]
8th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A moment in history
A man and a woman, each bedecked with medals, stand at a window framed by blossoms. The title reads “My Parents, 1988”. Beneath is a another photo entitled “The Same Window”. It shows the woman, now elderly, with a young man, perhaps her son or grandson. The father is no longer there. I’m a big […]
7th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Gift of Life, Tolerance without Boundaries
I am just travelling slowly back to Budapest through driving snow, having spent the afternoon in the West Hungarian city of Győr. I had discussions with the Mayor (recently made Head of the Hungarian Olympic Committee); the Chairman of the County Council; the “Kisalfold” newspaper, a British investment (who also interviewed me for their next […]
Read more on Gift of Life, Tolerance without Boundaries | Reply
6th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Where everywhere is home
This year, the UK is between Turkey (fabulous balloons) and Egypt (delicious traditional snacks). Yes, it’s the International Women’s Club of Kyiv (IWCK) annual seasonal charity bazaar. A brave band of embassy volunteers inspired by Olga, Caroline and Pippa has slaved to set up a spectacular-looking flag-draped stall with home-made jams, chutneys and Christmas puddings […]
2nd December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Transcarpathia: castles, skis and the mayor’s car
The walls of the castle rise sheer from the base of a deep, dry moat. Three different batteries of cannon face the west. To the east rise the Carpathians, dusted with snow. Welcome to Mukachevo, scenic setting of the world’s largest ski factory and as dense a melting pot of European cultures as one could […]
Read more on Transcarpathia: castles, skis and the mayor’s car | Reply
2nd December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Cigarettes: burning a hole in the public purse
How can you reduce the budget deficit without putting up taxes or cutting expenditure? One measure can do more than most to fill the depleted public purse – stop the trade in illegal cigarettes. Each year the smuggling of cigarettes into the UK costs the British Treasury over two billion pounds in lost revenue. The […]
Read more on Cigarettes: burning a hole in the public purse | Reply
2nd December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
When Britain built Constanta
I was in Constanta last week for a exhibition at the Museum of History and Archeology entitled ‘British Constanta’. This describes the history of the British Danube-Black Sea Railway company which was the first to build a railway between the Danube at Cernovoda and the port of Constanta on the Black Sea in 1860. In […]