8th September 2011
The last one was agreed in 1977, in very different circumstances. This morning I signed a Double Taxation Treaty between the UK and Hungary, on behalf of the British Government. Why is that important? Several reasons. It protects against the risk of double taxation where the same income is taxable in either of our countries […]
7th September 2011
For the last few months, I have been using Twitter to tweet about new blogs and occasionally to tweet or retweet (RT) on other subjects of interest about the UK and Ukraine. As a result I now have a number of followers on Twitter including members of the public, students, diplomats, business people and opinion […]
6th September 2011
I was involved in a number of events last week which reminded me of the multi-faceted relationship between Britain and Australia. On a sunny morning in Canberra, I laid a wreath at a memorial service to honour Australians who had served in the Malayan Emergency (1948-60) and Indonesian Confrontation (1962-66). These successful campaigns are nowadays […]
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2nd September 2011
A dozen TV cameras zoom in on a pen and an inch-thick contract. Signatures are completed; contracts swapped; and more signatures added. Eventually the process is complete and there are handshakes and a round of applause. I am at the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy to witness the signing of an important Joint Activity Agreement between […]
1st September 2011
Last weekend I attended the annual Hayman Island Retreat organised by the Australian Davos Connection. It is a prestigious gathering of senior figures from the worlds of business and government, together with eminent academics and thinkers to provoke discussion on long term trends. This year’s theme was .”On the Edge – confidence in the face […]
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31st August 2011 New York, USA
New York Consul-General Danny Lopez’s First Month It is hard to describe the excitement I felt when I was first informed that I’d been selected to be the next British Consul-General in New York. I spent two years living in the Big Apple in the early 2000s working for Barclays Bank, and I very much […]
31st August 2011
Mark Sedwill, the UK’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, visited Canberra last week. He is a former British Ambassador in Kabul, and was NATO Civilian Representative alongside General Petraeus until earlier this year. So he was already well known to many of the Australian interlocutors on whom he called. I took him to see […]
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30th August 2011
The wire is carefully concealed: stretched through the grass at ankle-height and attached at one end to a grenade. When a soldier’s boot connects with it there is a mighty explosion. Nearby, a military convoy is ambushed by enemy forces and a helicopter is called in to evacuate the wounded. Fortunately, this is a military […]
29th August 2011 Ottawa, Canada
Last week I met the new Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, the Honourable Andrew Scheer. He’s the youngest Speaker in Canadian history, but as a former Deputy Speaker he brings experience to the job, and is set to acquire a great deal more. It was fascinating to talk about the Commons in both […]
25th August 2011
In the following guest blog, Collette Weston, Deputy Head – UK Trade and Investment (Western India), bids a fond farewell to her Mumbai team, Mumbai and India. I got caught in a traffic jam on my way home from work the other day. I am sure most of the other bloggers on the FCO platform […]