10th July 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
There’s little point writing about anything not related to football at the moment and I wouldn’t expect anyone to give it much attention if I did. By a happy coincidence, plenty of the countries who qualified for the World Cup finals were busy at the Human Rights Council too. I’m happy to report that we […]
10th July 2018 Wellington, New Zealand
Arsene Wenger once said that to be a football manager is to live on a volcano. The difference between adulation and castigation is paper-thin, and turns as much on luck as on skill… And yet. There is something about Gareth Southgate. 50 years of hurt can do funny things to a country, but the love that Southgate enjoys right […]
21st October 2016 Kolkata, India
One of the surprises of Kolkata for me has been to discover how keen Kolkatans are on sport, and how many sports are played in and around the city. I knew that Kolkata is the home of one of the world’s great cricket grounds – Eden Gardens. As I expected, there is huge interest in […]
22nd April 2016
There are many oddities in English history. One is that our patron saint is St George. It is an ecumenical oddity. His feast day, 23 April, is both a Solemnity in the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church in England, and a ‘Feast’ in the Church of England calendar (and he is a major saint […]
30th March 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
As a Briton and the British Ambassador in Skopje, I take great pride in the culture and achievements of each of the four nations that make up the United Kingdom. I enjoy marking each of the national days. As a seven-eighths Englishman, however, England is closest to my heart. As we enter April, the month we […]
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29th March 2015 London, UK
In 2015, England marks two major anniversaries. It will be 800 years since the Magna Carta was sealed and 750 years since the formation of the first English parliament. Anyone who is interested in seeing the document that has been described as England’s greatest export need only visit the British Library, where not one but […]
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27th March 2015
In 2015, England marks two major anniversaries. It will be 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta and 750 years since the formation of the first English parliament. Anyone who is interested in seeing the document that has been described as England’s greatest export need only visit the British Library, where not one […]
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27th June 2014 Houston, USA
I will start off by saying that I am obsessed with the World Cup. OBSESSED. Every four years, nothing matters more than making sure I am able to watch important World Cup matches. I grew up watching the tournament back when most Americans had no clue that it existed. My family emigrated from Mexico to […]
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11th May 2014 Islamabad, Pakistan
A year ago today, Pakistan went to the polls to elect a new Government. Some 50 million Pakistanis turned out to vote. They made a statement about the future they want for their country – a future based on democracy and accountability through the ballot box. We went on to see the first ever full […]
4th April 2014
Relationships matter. Yesterday I had the honour of welcoming HM The Queen to Rome for private meetings with the President of Italy Giorgio Napolitano and Pope Francis (on which Ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker accompanied). I had the privilege of accompanying Her Majesty on the flight over for her fourth visit to Italy […]
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