30th August 2011
The wire is carefully concealed: stretched through the grass at ankle-height and attached at one end to a grenade. When a soldier’s boot connects with it there is a mighty explosion. Nearby, a military convoy is ambushed by enemy forces and a helicopter is called in to evacuate the wounded. Fortunately, this is a military […]
13th July 2011
Four British medals are laid out on a Union Flag. The family stand proudly as the Defence Attache says a few words, citing a moving text from the Polish War Cemetery at Monte Cassino in Italy which holds the graves over 1,000 Poles who died storming the abbey there in May 1944. Then we present […]
12th May 2011
A couple of people have commented on my recent Oxford speech that they were surprised to see how much military co-operation went on between Ukraine and the UK. Having listed various other areas of joint work (EU, energy, macro-financial assistance) I said: A final key area of cooperation is military. There’s a lot the UK […]
31st January 2011
Tonight we have brought high strategy and culture together. Some 50 students from the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC) run by the UK Defence Academy are in town to learn about Hungary – including students from Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the UAE […]
20th January 2011
A guest blog from John Foreman, Defence Attache, British Embassy 19 January is Epiphany, an ancient Christian feast day which, in the Orthodox tradition, celebrates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. The people of Ukraine, as elsewhere in the region, celebrate this event by jumping into the cold waters […]
13th September 2010 London, UK
Earlier this week I went to France for meetings with Pierre Lellouche (French Minister with responsibility for European affairs). We discussed a wide range of issues of common importance, such as defence cooperation, but also Europe’s relationships with China, India and Turkey. In between our meetings I recorded a video blog. Watch it and find […]