9th May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Prime Minister David Cameron and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia co-hosted an important conference on Somalia in London on 7 May. As I told Vatican Radio, the conference was held under very different circumstances from the February 2012 London Somalia conference. Shortly before then, Benedict XVI had called on the world to act in […]
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30th April 2013
Washington DC, USA
Last week I went to Columbus to talk to representatives of the 50,000 or so Somali diaspora community living in Ohio. It was hosted at a community learning centre set up to help Somali youths succeed in school. It seems to be working as I was told growing numbers are going to university. I set […]
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29th April 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
As an Embassy, we very often receive visits from individuals or delegations from Britain who are coming to the Holy See, or passing through Rome, and whose work is relevant to our own global priorities. One of the pleasures of being ambassador here is the sheer variety of such encounters, reflecting the extensive waterfront that […]
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12th April 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Foreign Ministers of the G8 met this week in London as part of the UK’s one year G8 Presidency. As their statement made clear, they addressed between them the major issues of the day: Syria, Iran, North Korea, and the Middle East Peace process. But G8 Ministers were not just fire fighting. The focus […]
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2nd April 2013
Toronto, Canada
I was recently over in the UK for a Québec-UK symposium on cardiometabolic disease in Cambridge, followed by meetings with researchers at various universities. We’ll follow up on potential joint projects this year, but for now here’s what I was tweeting during the trip: [View the story “QC-UK cardiometabolic disease symposium” on Storify]
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25th March 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
“Thursday” is a new play based on Gill Hicks, the Adelaide-born lady who lost both legs in the London tube bombings, and who has been such an inspiration with her bravery and dignity. It was with mixed feelings that I went along to the Canberra theatre to see this fascinating collaboration between the English Touring […]
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19th March 2013
Warsaw, Poland
A fundamental part of the UK’s growth strategy is to get British exports moving. About time – we have run a trade deficit for the last 40 years and we lag behind our EU peers in growing our international trade; 25% of French, German and Italian SMEs export. Looking at our region in particular, British […]
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14th March 2013
Toronto, Canada
This is a guest post by Dr. Srivas Chennu of the University of Cambridge, a nueroscientist who visited Canada last year as part of a SIN project. Scott and the Machine: International collaborations in the study of disorders of consciousness It was a busy 2012 for Scott Routley. For a while last year, he shot […]
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25th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
London in February is a bit on the chilly side. But London is great to visit at any time of year. That’s why over one million Australians visit Britain every year, spending £1 billion. This amount has doubled over the past decade. A significant number are travelling to visit friends and relatives, but others are […]
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11th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I was privileged to chair Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr’s Magna Carta lecture, an annual event organised by the British High Commission here. Each year we ask a prominent figure to speak about a modern issue relevant to the values enshrined in the 1215 charter, often described as the greatest constitutional document of all time. […]
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