15th October 2012 London, UK
This week, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Single Market, and it is a good moment to look back at how our relationship with Europe has changed over that time. Since 1992, the UK’s trade with EU member states has more than trebled. Currently, 3.5 million jobs – 11% of the UK’s workforce – […]
9th October 2012 Ottawa, Canada
Recently I spent a couple of days in Montreal, one of my favourite places in Canada. A great time to visit and discuss the outcome of the recent Quebec elections, the ongoing corruption investigation, as well as take the temperature of the business community on the economy, and on CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade […]
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4th October 2012
Here in the British Embassy’s trade team, we’re just as likely to be in downtown DC extolling the virtues of free trade and why Britain’s open for business to anyone and everyone who will listen as we are tied to our desks doing the more traditional reporting roles expected of Embassy officials. That’s all […]
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4th October 2012
$56 billion of infrastructural investment opportunities. New airports, bridges, motorways, ports and healthcare opportunities running up to 2023. Top-level political support from the British and Turkish Governments. All this is the background to this week’s visit to Turkey by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business and Enterprise Minister Michael Fallon, accompanied by a top-level […]
24th August 2012 Calgary, Canada
My family and I have just celebrated two months in Alberta. Arriving just prior to Stampede was thrilling. Being the first British Consul General resident in Calgary is a huge honour. Identifying a clone to pack everything in (we cover Saskatchewan and Manitoba too) is an increasing priority. To me, Alberta is a Province of […]
5th July 2012 New York, USA
On Monday, I had the fantastic experience of landing an Airbus 320 in London. Well, simulating one at least, from inside a Thales full-flight simulator of an A320 at Airbus’ Miami training centre. The flight might have been virtual, but the sweat on my brow was real, and I was definitely at my most focused. […]
26th June 2012 Athens, Greece
First week of June 2012 and the international shipping community turned its attention to Greece for Posidonia, the largest international gathering in the shipping calendar. It is a high profile bi-annual shipping exhibition/conference with exhibitors from over 85 countries and about 18,000 visitors. This can be easily understood, as Posidonia is a reflection of the […]
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28th May 2012 Warsaw, Poland
Today is a Great day – it marks a week long British Week in Poland to mark the 20th Anniversary Year of the British Polish Chamber of Commerce which culminates in The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration on the 4th June. Shortly after Poland and the UK embark on two global sporting spectacles – UEFA Euro […]
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25th May 2012 USA
Chicago isn’t an easy city to impress. The undisputed commercial capital of the US Midwest (an economic area comparable in weight to Germany), the second US financial centre after New York, and President Obama’s home town, it is used to high level attention. But even The City Of Broad Shoulders paused for thought when confronted […]
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5th April 2012 Washington DC, USA
And so I am just back from very sunny Boston. It was a day spent being grateful to people for tactfully ignoring my black eyes. It was also a day spent envying my partner, Layla, for having spent a summer working at Harvard when she was a medical student. Even in my very brief visit, […]