3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
12th March 2010 New York, USA
British Memorial Garden
One of the roles that comes with my job is to represent the Consulate-General on the Board of the British Memorial Garden Trust. The Trust’s mission is to build a permanent memorial for the 67 British victims of the 9/11 attacks. That memorial has taken shape in a public park in Downtown’s Financial District. […]
9th March 2010 Islamabad, Pakistan
First impressions of Pakistan.
Where better to start a blog about my encounters with this proud country than the presentation of my credentials to the President, Asif Ali Zardari? Credentials are an ancient piece of diplomatic ritual that is half absurd and wholly serious. An Ambassador’s (or, in the case of Commonwealth countries, a High Commissioner’s) credentials are the […]
5th March 2010 New York, USA
Lord Mandelson on Globalisation
Two major themes for this week. Lord Mandelson spoke at New York University on the financial crisis and what it means for globalisation. And we’re celebrating Wales Week. Lord Mandelson first. The speech is well worth reading in full, but, from what people told me afterwards, the points which resonated were: – globalisation is a fact. The […]
26th February 2010 New York, USA
Crossroads of Economy and Culture
The big event on the investment front this week was the Global Investment Conference in London. The US network of Posts worked closely with colleagues in London to ensure strong representation by US companies. And it took a team effort to place an opinion piece by the Prime Minister in USA Today. On the ground […]
24th February 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Economic reform and corruption: what next for Ukraine?
It’s a fine winter’s day in Kyiv and I’m sitting down for a meeting with a couple of prominent business people on the eve of the inauguration of President-elect Yanukovych. The business folk explain the immense economic potential of Ukraine as an energy and mineral producer, transit country, agricultural powerhouse and home to millions of […]
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20th February 2010 New York, USA
HMG in NYC
This is the first in a series of occasional blogs on what the Consulates-General do in the US. In New York, the Consulate-General is headquarters to UK Trade and Investment’s operations in the US (we’ll say more about how we support the British economy in future blogs). Our UK Borders Agency team handles visa applications from […]
18th February 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Ukrainian militia, Euro 2012 and human rights: are they compatible?
A guest blog by Svitlana Yavorska, Head of Projects Section, British Embassy Kyiv Breaking racial and ethnic stereotyping is vital in every country. So it was good to attend a press conference this week to mark the completion of a project funded by the Embassy to help Ukraine’s police forces, or militia, reach European best […]
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12th February 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Why the election strengthens Ukraine’s EU case
I wrote a couple of blogs last week anticipating the Ukrainian presidential election. The first, Ukrainian election: best and worst outcomes noted that the best possible outcome of the election would be that: “the elections are recognised by the OSCE/ODIHR observer mission as being to a good standard; both sides accept the outcome; and the […]
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5th February 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
More good news about electoral fraud – Dr Pangloss speaks?
As Ukraine moves closer to the decisive second round of the presidential election on 7 February the words of the European Commission after the first round might seem a distant memory. In a statement on 18 January, the Commission welcomed the fact that the first round of the elections on 17 January “took place in […]
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4th February 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Ukrainian election: Best and worst potential outcomes
What are the best and the worst possible outcomes of the Feb. 7 Ukrainian presidential election? The best is pretty clear. This is that the elections are recognized by the OSCE/ODIHR observer mission as being to a good standard; both sides accept the outcome; and the winner takes over as president. Countries around the world […]
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