30th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I’ve been in Warsaw this week meeting Polish and British colleagues and having my first good look around the city since I first visited it in 1987. It’s always interesting to compare neighbours, and the comparison between Poland and Ukraine tells us a good bit about both. This is particularly relevant as the negotiations on the proposed […]
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29th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Can you walk 110 kilometres in 24 hours? That’s the distance from the centre of Kyiv to the edge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone north of Kyiv. With the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster coming up at the end of April, a group of volunteers from the British and French embassies in Kyiv are […]
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27th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
How much would it be worth Oxford paying me to watch next year’s boat race against Cambridge? Or how much would Cambridge be prepared to pay to stop me watching? It’s Saturday night in Kyiv and the Oxbridge alumni of the city are gathered at the Golden Gate pub (next to the eponymous 1037 Kyiv […]
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27th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
هناك اعتقاد شائع بأن حياة الدبلوماسي هي حياة ترف واسترخاء: شوكولاتة فيريرو روشيه وحفلات الكوكتيل. و يا ليت كان ذلك صحيحا. إن أحد جوانب عملنا في الخارج و الذي نادرا ما يراه الآخرين هو الجهد الذي نبذله في تعلم اللغات. وفوق كل الدراسة فإنه علينا أن نتقدم للامتحان. نعم، حتى السفير يجب أن يخضع للامتحانات: […]
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22nd March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Imagine a child knocking on a door and being let in by a smiling family or friend. That’s the scene from a moving film presented by the charity Down Syndrome Education International, featuring children from dozens of countries including the UK and Ukraine. I watch the film with a roomful of guests at a World […]
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15th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
This isn’t really a blog. It’s an unashamed plug for an interview I recently gave to the Ukrainian weekly “Delo” about blogging. I recommend it – apart from anything else it’s a summary of some of my favourite blog entries, and those which other people have most enjoyed. The Foreign Office encourages bloggers to keep reviewing […]
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14th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I hold many events at the residence to promote educational providers or organisations, such as the Business Link Education Agency, which help to match up education providers in the UK with customers in Ukraine. We have also been able to host some valuable charity events. But it’s unusual to have an event which combines the […]
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12th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Guest blog by Svita Yavorska, EU Co-ordinator, British Embassy Kyiv It’s great to find the Ukrainian Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources full of people who care passionately about climate change. The occasion is a round table organised by the British Embassy in partnership with the State Environmental Investment Agency of Ukraine to highlight the […]
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11th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Anyone visiting Independence Square in the heart of Kyiv in the past few weeks will have seen the massive “British Business Days in Ukraine” banner stretched across the face of the Globus Shopping Centre. The British Business Days in Ukraine (BBDU) are nearly here – they run from 17-19 March. Some great British and Ukrainian […]
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10th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) was set up in the United Kingdom in 2006 as a national law enforcement agency. It has a terrific logo and website and acts as a repository for expertise on combating serious crime in the UK. So it’s a privilege to have two top counter-corruption experts from SOCA in […]
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