10th June 2011
It’s a good feeling to speak first and have not one but two people speaking after you say something which dovetails perfectly with your opening remarks. This happens on my first day back in Kyiv after a stay in the UK, when I host an event at the residence to mark the planned opening of […]
8th June 2011
Yesterday Ferenc Madl was buried in a moving ceremony with military honours in the Fiume Street Public Cemetery and a mass was held in the Basilica in his honour. President of Hungary between 2000 and 2005, he was respected for his propriety, knowledge and personal humility. As a judicial and non-partisan expert, he sent legislation […]
6th June 2011 New York, USA
Guest blog by Tony Hughes, Director, Focus Innovation and UKTI’s digital industries sector specialist.The UK is renowned for the innovation – the invention part of the process of developing new products and services – across all industries. Digital and Creative Industries are no exceptions, whether it is Film, TV, Games, Advertising or Publishing. Of course, […]
6th June 2011
I spent early Friday at the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual School of Budapest. They, together with 9 other schools, were participating in a “Connecting Classrooms” Festival event at the end of this academic year. Connecting Classrooms is a British Council global project which aims to build lasting partnerships between schools in the UK and others around the […]
4th June 2011
On 31 May the British Embassy’s conference hall was (not for the first time) turned into a cinema. I co-hosted the evening screening of the film “Call of Life: Facing Mass Extinction” with the Hungarian State Secretary for the Environment, Zoltan Illes. This was far from the first time we worked together. The history of […]
3rd June 2011 New York, USA
Guest blog by Niall Gordon, UK Trade & Investment. As panic sets in and the two month football (that’s soccer for our American friends) drought begins, we discover there are plenty of sporting events to keep you going over the next few weeks – many with a British and charitable twist. On Saturday, 4 June, the […]
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1st June 2011
I have just spent three weeks in the United Kingdom, attending our annual conference of ambassadors and talking to a wide range of people about the direction of British foreign policy in this second decade of the twenty first century. What is clear is that there is plenty to do. No country, least of all […]
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19th May 2011 Nairobi, Kenya
I’d like to welcome you to my first blog as the UK Senior Representative to Somalia and the first-ever one on behalf of the new British Office for Somalia. My name is Matt Baugh. You will find a link to my biography elsewhere on this page, in case you would like to know a […]
6th May 2011
From the moment the lights go down and the familiar heavy metal chords ring out through the vast indoor space, it is clear that Deep Purple have lost none of their ability to rock. We’re in the Kyiv International Exhibition Centre and the ur-British rockers are here for one night only as they cut a […]
3rd May 2011
How can the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, best ensure that it meets the democratic aspirations of the Ukrainian people? I’ve blogged before about the unfortunate propensity of members of the Rada to settle disputes by physical violence – inside the chamber – rather than by debate. When I noted recently with approval that there hadn’t […]