12th March 2012 Nairobi, Kenya
Last week the world marked International Women’s Day – a day to renew our commitment to the empowerment, education and advancement of women and girls around the world. Somalia is, according to a 2011 survey, one of the worst countries in the world in which to be a woman. Women are subjected to violence, harassment […]
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30th January 2012 Islamabad, Pakistan
Variety is one of the things I love about my job. It comes from the huge range of issues, people and types of engagement that connect the UK to Pakistan. We have just launched a multi-month communications campaign to celebrate that variety. It is called Celebrating Connections and it is in the media, on our […]
19th January 2012 Athens, Greece
When I tell those who might be interested in asking what I do for a living that I am the British Embassy’s Political Officer most people ask “so, do you think that we shall have an early election?” or “what do the British think of the latest polls?” So, they are surprised if they get […]
21st October 2011
It sounds like something from science fiction. But in fact it is with us as we live and breathe. And next month, 1 and 2 November, the Foreign Office will host a conference on cyberspace in London – the opportunities for social good, increased democratic engagement and prosperity it represents, along with its dark side, […]
29th September 2011
I was surprised and very touched to be presented today with a annual Prize for an Outstanding Contribution to the Cause of Women’s Equality by the Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary. The prize is given to those who the Association sees as most actively promoting the issue of gender equality. Because I was […]
22nd September 2011
I have just returned from a short visit to London, where I took the opportunity to meet Chris Bain, the Director of CAFOD, the principal Catholic charity in England and Wales (its main partners in the United Kingdom are SCIAF in Scotland, and Trocaire in Northern Ireland – which also operates in the Republic of […]
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 […]
7th July 2011
The following is a guest blog by Spencer Mahony, HM Consul & UKTI Regional Director for the South East US, British Embassy Washington. The 2011 BIO International Convention last week in Washington was an event of mind-boggling size: 15,000 attendees from around the globe descended on the Washington Convention Centre to showcase their biotechnology projects, […]
10th February 2011
I wrote recently in the Bolivian newspaper La Razon about the importance of free trade and the Doha Round of trade negotiations. As Prime Minister David Cameron has said, 2011 is a “make or break” year: we go forward, boosting free trade and global prosperity, or backwards to the dark ages of protectionism and beggar-thy-neighbour. […]
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7th February 2011
A guest blog from Margaret Jack, Director, British Council Ukraine Sixty Education Ministers developing policies for half a billion young people to help ensure that progress beyond the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals will improve the competitiveness of nations. This was the World Education Forum in London last month. Education Ministers on the steps of […]