22nd December 2025

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
22nd December 2025

17th December 2025

9th December 2025

5th November 2010 Chevening, UK
I wanted to call this blog "the Clash and human rights" but Malaysian Chevening scholar Shazeera Zawawi wrote it so she gets to decide; The title of this piece of intellectual pursuit is a tribute to a close friend’s response to my recent announcement that I will be furthering my post graduate study in Applied […]
Read more on Applied human rights? You mean it was never applied before? | Reply
5th November 2010 New York, USA
Guest blog: Susan Haird, Deputy Chief Executive, UK Trade & Investment I am delighted to be writing from New York, where at this time of year the city’s cultural and commercial calendars are humming. It is the latter that brings me here on this particular visit. The US is by far the largest investor in […]
5th November 2010
We knew that there would be huge interest from the UK in Hungary in the run-up to their EU Presidency in the first half of next year. And so it is proving. The focus started, I suppose, with the highly successful visit of Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in […]
4th November 2010
Last month I joined a group of ambassadors visiting the vast and impressive Vauban Fortress at Alba Iulia. As a historian I found this a fascinating place to visit. All the different eras of Romanian history are represented here – the original Dacian settlement, the Roman legionary fortress and the magnificent Habsburg citadel in the […]
Read more on Alba Iulia: Romania’s heritage, Romania’s future | Reply
2nd November 2010 Chevening, UK
El estilo LSE – the third blog from one of our 2 Chevening scholars and part-time bloggers, Rina Paredes. Siendo una total y completa novata en Europa y su sistema educativo, a poco más de un mes de iniciar mi maestría en LSE, puedo decir que estoy acostumbrándome al ritmo de estudios y al gran […]
2nd November 2010 Chevening, UK
Un registro más, qué importa…The second blog from Rina Paredes from Peru Finalmente instalada en Londres, hoy cumplo una semana en esta ciudad que nunca se cansará de sorprenderme. Luego de pasar dos semanas al norte, rodeada solo de angloparlantes, esta semana me instalé en la ciudad más cosmopolita del mundo y conocí mi casa […]
Read more on One week in the city that never stops surprising | Reply
1st November 2010
This week, I made my first official visit outside Bucharest, and chose to go to Cluj- one of the largest cities in Transylvania. Why Cluj? Because this town is becoming one of the hottest centres for IT software development. European and UK companies are getting a piece of the action. Have you had an SMS […]
29th October 2010 New York, USA
Congratulations to Glenda Bailey OBE and Tony Walton who became the first recipients of the St George‘s Society Anglo-American Cultural Awards this week. The glittering event, on October 25, began with the first US performance of Stephen Sondheim’s Evening Primrose, starring celebrated British actress Angela Lansbury CBE. The night also featured performances from Alan Cumming OBE and Jim Dale […]
Read more on Celebrating British talent in the States | Reply
29th October 2010
Having worked and lived in various countries, but in particular during several years spent in Pakistan (where I also worked on development issues in Afghanistan), I am strongly convinced of the critical importance for us all of international development work. And specifically the need to implement the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDG). In recent months, […]
Read more on "No man is an island": Developments in development | Reply
29th October 2010
People in Kyiv love fishing. Whether in the summer, with blow-up boats dotting the Dnieper or in the winter with stoic mummified forms monitoring blow-holes in the frozen river, fishermen (sic) are everywhere. It’s no surprise, then, to find that British companies producing fishing gear are making a big impact in Ukraine. When I visit […]