Speakers' Corner
Work of the British Diplomatic Network in Brazil
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22nd May 2015
Brasilia, Brazil
22 May marks the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB), a day to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. The theme for 2015 will be ‘Biodiversity for Sustainable Development’ to reflect the importance of a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being developed as part of the UN post-2015 development agenda and the relevance […]
Read more on Seahorses: ‘flagships’ for biodiversity conversation – Guestpost by Dr Lucy Woodall | Reply
30th March 2015
Pretoria, South Africa
In 2015, England marks two major anniversaries. It will be 800 years since the Magna Carta was sealed and 750 years since the formation of the first English parliament. Anyone who is interested in seeing the document that has been described as England’s greatest export need only visit the British Library, where not one but two […]
Read more on Celebrating three great English exports in 2015 | Reply
6th March 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Amongst the snippets of “what will happen in 2015?” news earlier this year I saw one piece of news sure to please many people. A new James Bond 007 Film, “Spectre”, will launch in November. People are fascinated by secret services. Some are more secret than others. My blog of December 2010, “I can burn […]
Read more on James Bond, conspiracy theories and the Welsh Secret Service | Reply (1)
20th February 2015
Brasilia, Brazil
On 23 Jan I started a (long) journey to the South Atlantic. More specifically, the Falkland Islands. There I spent a week with Brazilian academics from Rio, Brasilia, Porto Alegre and Foz do Iguaçu learning about the Islands’ political system, economy, education, development plans, science and research opportunities, but also got to know the friendly […]
Read more on Statistics, penguins and proud people | Reply
13th February 2015
Brasilia, Brazil
Confetti, serpentine, dance, costumes, parades, floats, giant puppets and joy… in a simple approach, perhaps this can sum up the Brazilian Carnival. The festival that aimed to thank the gods for soil fertility and production in ancient Greece came to the Brazilian lands under European influence around 1723, being welcomed with open arms by the […]
Read more on Celebrating diversity | Reply
31st January 2015
Brasilia, Brazil
Guest post by Adam Dady On Thursday 7 May, British voters will vote for our next government. The 2010 elections saw our first coalition government (Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) since 1945. This year’s elections promise to be even more unpredictable by UK standards, with five parties currently receiving more than 5% support in the polls. […]
Read more on Unlike in Brazil: elections in the UK – guestpost by Adam Dady | Reply
30th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
It’s that time of year when many of us look ahead at the coming year, and wonder what lies in wait. Fortunately, 2015 has already been predicted and captured on film, 25 years ago, in Back to the Future II. OK, so we’re still waiting on hover-boards, but the film did seem to hit the […]
Read more on Back to 2015 | Reply
19th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
It’s a delicate business judging how much personal stuff to put in a blog. In the past I’ve written official blogs with a rich mix of personal and work entries. Then Twitter came along and much personal material, such as my famous series #reasonstolikeIstanbul, was swept away into the Twitterverse. I’ve so far tweeted out […]
Read more on Festive 50: From “Every Little Bit Hurts" To "Stay With Me" | Reply
17th December 2014
Brasilia, Brazil
For just over two weeks, the sunny Peruvian capital welcomed thousands of delegates from over 190 countries with a challenging objective: to prepare the way for the new climate agreement to be reached in Paris next year. I was lucky enough to join these negotiations once more, as part of the UK delegation. Next year’s […]
Read more on Lima: are we still on track for a new climate regime? | Reply
10th December 2014
Brasilia, Brazil
On November 25, 1960, three sisters were killed because they opposed the Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican’s Republic. The sisters grew up in a rural area and watched their family lose their house and all their money during the “Era of Trujillo”. Las Mariposas, as they were known, founded an opposition group to the […]
Read more on 16 Days of Activism – A guest blog by Mariana Almeida | Reply