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RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
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The climate crisis and gender-based violence
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Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
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 […]
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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 […]
29th November 2010 Ottawa, Canada
Adventures in Arctic Biodiversity
Elinor, our intern here at the British High Commission in Ottawa, has kindly agreed to share her experience at the recent Arctic Biodiversity Symposium that was held in Ottawa, at the Canadian Museum of Nature this past week (November 18-19, 2010). See below for her take on what its happening in the world of Canadian Arctic […]
29th November 2010 Islamabad, Pakistan
A Virtual Exhibition
Do you want to study in the UK? The British Council here in Pakistan are running an exciting exhibition until 4 December. Anyone interested in studying in the UK really ought to visit it. It showcases the amazing range of courses and the high quality of student experience that British universities can offer international students. […]
29th November 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
St Andrew’s Night in Kyiv: a Ukrainian-Scottish ceilidh
It’s 9.30 p.m. and the Sancho Panza Restaurant is packed with Scots and Ukrainians in kilts and traditional embroidered linen shirts (actually most of the men in kilts are wearing Ukrainian shirts). A Scottish/Ukrainian band equipped with bagpipes, a harmonica, fiddles and a tsymbaly play Ukrainian and Scottish dance tunes accompanied by roars of enthusiasm […]
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29th November 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Girding up our loins
Last week the National School of Government came to Budapest for an extremely useful training session for a group of Embassy staff on what to expect under the Hungarian EU Presidency. They covered for example the EU decision making process; the challenges we will face; how the rotating Presidency fits into the new EU architecture; […]
29th November 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Why Afghanistan Matters
Last week I had the honour to award certificates to forty men and women of the Romanian armed forces that will soon be joining the rest of the Romanian contingent in Zabul Province in Afghanistan. They had just completed four weeks training with British military instructors as part of a course of several months spent […]
27th November 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Innovation and democracy
The Lord Mayor of London and Speaker of the House of Commons have now left Budapest! The Lord Mayor’s programme today included a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Navracsics, who is also Minister for Justice (to talk about proposed EU economic regulation). And a speech to British Chamber of Commerce members (including Hungarian companies) to […]
26th November 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Bear Market?
The 683rd Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Michael Bear, is currently in Budapest with a party from the City. Rushing back from meetings in Brussels, I narrowly made it back to Ferihegy Airport just in time to greet him on arrival. The Lord Mayor tries to visit all countries taking on the EU Presidency just […]
26th November 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Cyberpunks and the matrix: Online Kyiv offline
Science fiction has a fine record of guessing the future; but no-one saw the Internet coming. Honourable mention should be made of the excellent works of William Gibson, credited with inventing the term cyberspace. Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer, which includes references to something called the Matrix, made a big impression on me. So did the […]
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