2nd October 2013 Montreal, Canada
Whisky is not just good for sipping; it is also good for making biofuel. The distillation process of whisky produces a lot of byproducts that do not make it into the bottle you see at the liquor store. Actually, only 10 % of what is produced in a distillery is drinkable whisky. The rest is […]
25th February 2013
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 […]
Read more on 1 million Australian tourists spend £1bn a year in Britain | Reply
30th January 2013 Washington DC, USA
I happened to be in Dublin four years ago when Ireland’s Rugby team won the Six Nation’s Tournament, sending the country into a swirl of excitement culminating in daylong welcome home celebration on the River Liffey, as well as the first I heard of team captain Brian O’Driscoll – nicknamed The BOD – a player […]
Read more on Six Nations Rugby: How You Can Cheer Stateside | Reply (1)
19th December 2012 USA
I should confess that while I am not Scottish I would quite fancy being Scottish for a while. The Scots, like the Irish, are renowned for being people who love to live life to the fullest. They produce God’s finest water (Scottish whiskys are seeing their exports to the US and most others markets rocket […]
Read more on Scotland – it never ceases to surprise me | Reply
28th November 2012
The following is a guest blog by Justin McKenzie Smith, Deputy Head of Mission and Director for Trade and Investment at the British Embassy Mexico City. “30 November is St Andrew’s Day, the patron saint of Scotland. The longer I am here, the more I am finding out about the connections between Scotland and Mexico. It is quite something […]
Read more on The Scotland that we want to celebrate | Reply (1)
14th November 2012 Warsaw, Poland
Just left Glasgow heading south on the M74. A great event and huge opportunity for Scottish companies to engage in Emerging Europe. We were very pleased to be able to team up with Scottish Development International for this event which took place right in the heart of Glasgow. Emerging Europe Smart Exporter – please remember […]
Read more on Glasgow’s Great – Emerging Europe Scotland | Reply
8th November 2012 Dublin, Ireland
I am off to London to participate in a week of events selling the opportunity for British business that Emerging Europe represents. Let me begin by defining Emerging Europe. At its core are nine markets, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, which together make up the Foreign Office’s Central European […]
8th June 2012
In Newcastle, New South Wales, watching Scotland play Australia at Rugby. I don’t think I’ve ever attended a sports match played in such adverse weather conditions: a massive storm brought high gusting winds and driving rain. All the points came from penalties, and to the enormous satisfaction of their band of dedicated followers, a gritty […]
17th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
It isn’t every day that you walk out of your house to find 10,000 people on your lawn. But on Saturday, for EU Embassy Open House day, that is what happened to me. From the time gates opened at 10:00—with quite a queue already formed—until they closed at 4:00, a steady stream of visitors turned […]
9th May 2012
I am often asked whether my role as British Ambassador to the Holy See is to represent British Catholics. Or whether I have ex officio a particular relationship with the Catholic hierarchies of England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland (at least, the Northern Ireland end). My reply is yes. I do represent the British government, […]