13th April 2012 Islamabad, Pakistan
I really enjoy sharing my experiences and thoughts in an informal way through this blog. I’ve been able to do blog posts on subjects as diverse as foreign policy issues, the Commonwealth, the trade and education links between the UK and Pakistan and of course cricket. And I have particularly valued the feed back. But […]
5th March 2012 Islamabad, Pakistan
I have been Political Counsellor at the British High Commission in Islamabad since December 2011. This is my first posting to South Asia. Before coming to Pakistan, I was Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, and before that I served in Moscow, Paris, New York and […]
24th February 2012 Islamabad, Pakistan
Yesterday Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar attended the international conference on Somalia in London hosted by British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron. Her presence was valuable and built on the good collaboration that Britain and Pakistan have enjoyed over the narrower question of Somali piracy. We’ve both suffered from these pirates. So our two navies have collaborated on […]
23rd February 2012 Islamabad, Pakistan
I began my career as a journalist on Egypt’s Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper, spending two years living on a house-boat in the heart of Cairo and reporting on the Middle East. In 2002 I joined the UK civil service. Before the Foreign Office, I was a Senior Policy Advisor in the Cabinet Office, covering Russia, Georgia […]
1st February 2012 Islamabad, Pakistan
Great cricket! Pakistan’s that is. Some of Pakistan’s media described Pakistan’s crushing win over England in the second Test in Dubai as a miracle. To a non-cricketer like me, it didn’t look like a miracle. It looked like a very professional demolition job by some fine spin bowlers. Of course I would have liked England […]
30th January 2012 Islamabad, Pakistan
Variety is one of the things I love about my job. It comes from the huge range of issues, people and types of engagement that connect the UK to Pakistan. We have just launched a multi-month communications campaign to celebrate that variety. It is called Celebrating Connections and it is in the media, on our […]
19th January 2012 Islamabad, Pakistan
Guest blogger, Susan Hyland, joins Adam Thomson’s blog to share a few impressions from her first weeks as Political Counsellor at the British High Commission in Pakistan. Six weeks ago, one of my colleagues met me at the airport when I arrived in Islamabad for the first time. As I write this, I am again […]
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18th January 2012
Understanding religion is fundamental to our comprehension of the world in which we live. It is especially necessary for diplomats as they seek to apply their nation’s foreign policy around the world. Globally – though Western Europe is perhaps an exception – the trend, to put it crudely, is towards “more” religion rather than less. […]
14th December 2011 Islamabad, Pakistan
Young Pakistanis never fail to inspire me. I have the privilege of a couple of weeks ago of helping to select one graduate to go on a scholarship to one of Britain’s leading Universities. How interesting and how tough it was! Nearly two hundred application forms had to be sifted, giving a wonderful glimpse into […]
27th October 2011 Chevening, UK
This is the second blog in series of blogs by our new 2012/12 Chevening scholars from Pakistan. In this edition, Zameer Abbas, who is studying at the University of Sussex, tells us about his first time in the UK. My first time in UK! I landed at London Heathrow Airport on Sunday 25th September 2011, […]
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