12th December 2010
The lofty, historic hall of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy is packed with journalists, TV cameras and microphones. The occasion is the prize-giving for the BBC Ukrainian Service Book of the Year Competition. The prize, worth #1,000, is in my pocket. Several of the five short-listed authors are present, one via Skype from Washington. Five distinguished […]
8th December 2010
A man and a woman, each bedecked with medals, stand at a window framed by blossoms. The title reads “My Parents, 1988”. Beneath is a another photo entitled “The Same Window”. It shows the woman, now elderly, with a young man, perhaps her son or grandson. The father is no longer there. I’m a big […]
7th December 2010
I am just travelling slowly back to Budapest through driving snow, having spent the afternoon in the West Hungarian city of Győr. I had discussions with the Mayor (recently made Head of the Hungarian Olympic Committee); the Chairman of the County Council; the “Kisalfold” newspaper, a British investment (who also interviewed me for their next […]
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29th November 2010 Ottawa, Canada
Elinor, our intern here at the British High Commission in Ottawa, has kindly agreed to share her experience at the recent Arctic Biodiversity Symposium that was held in Ottawa, at the Canadian Museum of Nature this past week (November 18-19, 2010). See below for her take on what its happening in the world of Canadian Arctic […]
27th November 2010
The Lord Mayor of London and Speaker of the House of Commons have now left Budapest! The Lord Mayor’s programme today included a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Navracsics, who is also Minister for Justice (to talk about proposed EU economic regulation). And a speech to British Chamber of Commerce members (including Hungarian companies) to […]
16th November 2010 Chevening, UK
I’m experiencing the best times of my life. The people in Scotland as well as the international students are fantastic. Local people organised a lot of greeting parties and tours outside of Dundee. I already visited some places where Harry Potter was filmed. And of course Edinburgh…Speechless… Oleh Krykavskyy, a Chevening scholar from Ukraine, currently […]
5th November 2010 Chevening, UK
I wanted to call this blog "the Clash and human rights" but Malaysian Chevening scholar Shazeera Zawawi wrote it so she gets to decide; The title of this piece of intellectual pursuit is a tribute to a close friend’s response to my recent announcement that I will be furthering my post graduate study in Applied […]
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5th October 2010
At India’s largest annual banking conference in Mumbai in September, the British Minister for Commercial Services in the Treasury was asked about the development of Islamic banking in England. Lord Sassoon was able to spell out how a number of UK banks had started to offer specific services for Islamic customers. Some overseas visitors to the […]
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30th August 2010 Ottawa, Canada
Have you ever asked yourself: “What is innovation?” Maybe not, but as a Science & “Innovation” officer, I ask myself that all the time! So with this blog posting, I thought I’d give myself the excellent excuse to figure out just what we mean by Innovation, and also, what it means in Canada in particular. […]