25th July 2013 Kingston, Jamaica
I’m very lucky to be High Commissioner in Jamaica – that’s my over-riding first impression. When I think of the many other places I could have been posted to, this one is hard to beat. I arrived five weeks ago, so “first” impressions are no longer quite correct. I’ve had a bit of time to […]
19th June 2013 Beirut, Lebanon
The windy resort of Lough Erne in Northern Ireland this week must have felt far from the millions of Syrians whose lives have been ripped apart by conflict. Yet many of the G8 leaders meeting there have seen the human impact for themselves. Prime Minister David Cameron’s focus on stopping the war in Syria is […]
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11th June 2013 British High Commission, Kingston, Jamaica
Mr David Fitton CMG has been appointed British High Commissioner to Jamaica in succession to Mr Howard Drake, who was transferred to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Mr Fitton will take up his appointment during June 2013. Mr Fitton joined the FCO in 1980 and was , until recently , Deputy Head of mission at the […]
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13th May 2013 Warsaw, Poland
Midnight Friday 10th May the Emerging Europe GREAT Mini arrives under the cover of night to Warsaw branded up and raring to go. Saturday 11th May, bright and early, on the road to an airstrip somewhere in the wilds outside Dęblin. A mini Silverstone, well a great little airstrip where 25 of its friends all […]
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24th April 2013 British High Commission, Kingston, Jamaica
Over the past few weeks, the British High Commission in Kingston Jamaica has done quite alot of work on Chevening Scholarships and with our Chevening Alumni. We are in the very final stages of our 12 week “Chevening Alumni Location and Engagement Project” for both Jamaica and the Bahamas, which saw us identifying, making contact […]
28th March 2013 London, UK
I must be in hundreds of photos seen by people around the world. Not because I’m some global celebrity, but because I regularly walk or cycle over the bridge by the Houses of Parliament in London. Each time I do, I end up in the photos of tourists lining up to take pictures of the […]
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19th March 2013
I’m definitely not a “petrolhead”, but I am fascinated by all the razzmatazz that goes on around Melbourne’s iconic Grand Prix, bringing together the celebs, the politicians and the business suits. But the aspect which interests me most of all, is the extraordinary research-intensive industry that lies behind the world of F1, much of it […]
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28th February 2013 Islamabad, Pakistan
Now, I’m not one who normally gets passionate about sport. I could have been certain that my first blog from Pakistan, where I recently arrived as the High Commission’s new Press Attaché, would not have been about sport. But, I am surprisingly doing just that. When I think of sport in Pakistan, cricket comes into […]
8th February 2013
50 years ago, everyone in Rome was talking about “aggiornamento”. There is no English word that translates it perfectly, but in prosaic terms it means “bring up to date”, as well as “revision” or “renovation”. The word was used by Pope John XXIII to describe and set out the task of the Second Vatican Council. […]
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23rd January 2013
The State of Gujarat, an hour’s flight north of Mumbai, can claim many important contributions to India. It was the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, another key leader of the independence movement and India’s first Home Minister, and Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the massive eponymous conglomerate, hails from Navsari in Gujarat. Gujarat […]
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