30th September 2020 Skopje, North Macedonia
Two years into my posting as British Ambassador to North Macedonia, September was my first month working for the recently merged Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the whole team coming back fully into the Embassy and adapting to the “new normal”. With my Embassy team, we have been working remotely and in groups from the […]
22nd November 2018 Abuja, Nigeria
When I tell people I live in Lagos, Nigeria, I often get quite a lot of quizzical looks… Why did you move there with your family? Is it safe? What about Boko Haram? Is corruption not endemic? As the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, I know that the challenges of corruption, insecurity and poverty […]
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6th December 2017 Tokyo, Japan
Chubu, the region centred on Nagoya, may be only Japan’s third conurbation. But if it was a country it would be a member of G20. And Greater Nagoya, an industrial powerhouse, produces 1% of the entire world’s GDP. So, not surprisingly, business was a big focus of my recent visit, together with Sarah Wooton, our […]
3rd July 2017 Kolkata, India
We now have the ability to surround ourselves with images that we record on our mobile phones. But the best images remain in your head. The monsoon rains have arrived in Kolkata. I was in my official car travelling through the city in the middle of a heavy storm last week. We passed an old […]
15th March 2017 Calgary, Canada
#BeBoldForChange was the theme for International Women’s Day on 8 March. So, I thought, what better way to celebrate March 8 than with 8 bold women.
16th January 2017 Toronto, Canada
Imagine being able to hop into a vehicle, tell it where you want to go, then be able to pull out your laptop and watch some TV, or get some work done on the way to your destination!
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14th October 2016 Kolkata, India
I hosted my first adda last week. An adda is a very Bengali event – it’s a meeting of a group of people to talk about a particular subject. I attended one on my second day in Kolkata organised by the British Council colleagues for the British High Commissioner to India Dominic Asquith who was visiting […]
12th October 2016 Delhi, India
The UK Science and Innovation Network is running interactive workshops to support Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) in India through a series of workshops across 4-cities who have confirmed interest in this area. These cities are Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Pune. The aim of this workshop is to share the best practices from established TBI managers, […]
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19th August 2016 Bangalore, India
Last year I had the opportunity to manage an incredibly exciting project on UK-India Cooperation on Tidal Power Research, which included several visits from the UK Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER), hosted at the University of Edinburgh. This builds on our efforts from 2014 when UKCMER members visited Kolkata and the Sunderbans to look […]
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6th July 2016 Calgary, Canada
Elton John composed his first five albums on a trusty old piano. And where is that piano now (must be worth a bit)? It is actually to be found in Canada’s new National Music Centre .
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