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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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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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25th November 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Bolivia and the problem of pirated software
Bolivia is the country in South America with the third highest incidence of pirated software – films, music, computer games. Many regard pirating – the illegal copying of licensed software – as standard practice. Few think about copying a DVD or CD, and in La Paz it is almost impossible to buy a copy of […]
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25th November 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A sport anyone in Ukraine can "Tri"
Sports of all kinds are popular in Ukraine. I’ve blogged before about that fact that at my 1:1 lunches, some of Ukraine’s top decision-makers are ready to have a quick game of table-tennis (a trend which continues – Ed) and about Kyiv’s fishing frenzy. So it’s an honour to have to lunch at the residence […]