15th June 2012 Dublin, Ireland
Here in Poland, public attention is understandably focussed on EURO 2012, not the Eurozone crisis. Poland’s 1-1 draw with Russia was a classic game and leaves open a real chance for Poland to qualify for the Quarter Finals. But the tournament will end on 1 July while the Eurozone crisis with its continuing impact on […]
30th May 2012 Islamabad, Pakistan
It is 6.30 am Saturday morning in Lahore, the room service waiter points at the TV news and says “that’s you”. I agree that it is, as footage plays of a meeting I had the day before with Nawaz Sharif, PML-N political leader and twice former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and, Shabaz Sharif, his brother […]
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27th April 2012 Washington DC, USA
Last night I hosted an event for former Marshall Scholars at the Embassy with a brilliant talk by Jeff Rosen on Google, the internet, and privacy. This is of course a hot topic at the moment – for the public, for Governments, for NGOs and for businesses. I’ve also got a keen interest in it as […]
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8th March 2012 Dublin, Ireland
Today is a very important day. It is my birthday. More seriously, it is International Women’s Day. The role of woman in European society has evolved a lot in recent years, mostly in a positive direction. However, there is a great deal still to do. Women are still under represented at the top levels in […]
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6th September 2011
Last week I visited the House of Glass, close to the Embassy. It contains a small museum, to the memory of Carl Lutz. He was a Swiss diplomat and – like his Swedish counterpart Raoul Wallenberg [link] – saved many Jews in Budapest during the Second World War from the Nazis by providing them with […]
8th August 2011 Toronto, Canada
This is John Preece guestblogging about a recent trip to the University of Western Ontario for the official opening of the Centre for Brain and Mind (see also Lara Kaute’s post from July 29th). The Centre boasts some 20 principal investigators, including Dr. Adrian Owen (Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging and […]
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29th July 2011 Ottawa, Canada
This is the SIN intern Lara Kaute sharing her impressions of the official opening of the Centre for Brain and Mind at the University of Western Ontario in London. Read on for an overview of the Centre, the work that goes on there and the staff. On Monday July 25th, John and I attended the […]
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19th July 2011
Guest blog: Deputy Head of Mission Esther Blythe attended last week the start of a three-day workshop hosted by the Romanian Foreign Ministry for Tunisian and Egyptian officials on the experience of democratic transition – focusing in particular on the practical challenges of managing the first post-transition elections. Here is what Esther thought of the […]
20th April 2011
I made two visits recently to the State of Gujarat in Western India, both of which underline the enormous potential for UK companies in India, and the scale of developments here. At the end of March a team from our trade and investment operation in Mumbai travelled to Surat, the second largest city in Gujarat, […]
Read more on 5m people, an economy growing at 11.5 per cent – Ingredients for a “second tier” city in India | Reply
15th March 2011
This isn’t really a blog. It’s an unashamed plug for an interview I recently gave to the Ukrainian weekly “Delo” about blogging. I recommend it – apart from anything else it’s a summary of some of my favourite blog entries, and those which other people have most enjoyed. The Foreign Office encourages bloggers to keep reviewing […]
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