7th April 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph recently William Hague argued that Ukraine’s future security depends crucially on dismantling the oligarchic state that characterised Yanukovych’s rule and taking resolute steps to tackle corruption. And he advocated more determined action in tackling corruption in the Balkans as well, to ensure strong, stable and democratic states in this part […]
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27th February 2014
Ottawa, Canada
Next week we are heading east. The High Commission is opening up a ‘pop-up’ office for a week in Halifax and we’ll be out in full force promoting all things British through political, consular, cultural, trade, and defence themed events…
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19th December 2013
Vancouver, Canada
There are few events as exciting as the countdown to a rocket launch; and few contexts in which the words, “all systems normal” are as welcome…
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28th November 2013
Ottawa, Canada
I was at the beautiful Cumberland Lodge near Windsor, UK, last week for the 2013 Canada-UK Colloquium. The Colloquium is an annual event, taking place alternately in each country, bringing together British and Canadian parliamentarians, public officials, academics…
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12th September 2013
Ottawa, Canada
I was in Toronto earlier this week for the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s a time of year when Toronto truly shines – there’s a buzz in the air, and the streets are littered with dark-windowed SUVs ferrying their precious cargo (or, as they are known in the trade “the Talent”) from premiere to press conference and back again…
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28th August 2013
Vancouver, Canada
Never write about Shakespeare. It’s like inviting friends to watch you skate when the Sedins are on the ice. In fact, given the very existence of Hamlet and King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night – to write or not to write, at all, about anything, should be the question. . .
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23rd July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Energy has long been a strategic sector of Romania’s economy. It was the fifth largest oil exporter in the world before the Second World War. Today it is still one of the few countries in Europe that can meet the majority of its energy needs from domestic sources. According to Bloomberg, it is also one […]
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1st July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
One of the UK’s most eminent public servants, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, gave an address to students in Bucharest last month, making the case for a career in public service. Sir Suma is now President of EBRD, but before then he had a long and distinguished career in the British civil service. I worked with him […]
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9th May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I love the Orthodox tradition of sharing the Holy Fire from Jerusalem at Easter. Last weekend my wife was back in London so I was a single parent for Easter in Bucharest with our two younger daughters (and one of their friends). We went to the midnight service at our local Orthodox Church. There was […]
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3rd May 2013
Vancouver, Canada
“Why am I doing this?” I ask. There’s no-one listening of course – it’s a private conversation with myself, the sort that people running on their own often have I suppose. My legs have turned to warm lumps of tissue paper, my lungs heave and burn like bellows cast into a fire, and I’m sure […]
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