11th September 2011
Seeing off the group of young Jordanians who are going to the United Kingdom on scholarships is a time to celebrate the close links between Jordan and the UK when it comes to education. Britain is a place where many people want to study because of the high quality of its schools, colleges and universities. […]
25th August 2011
Like many people in Jordan and elsewhere I have been glued to the TV reporting and the Twitter feeds coming from Libya. Although there are pockets of resistance, the end of the Libyan people’s nightmare is not far away. The sooner Qadhafi is captured the better. We have watched, fascinated, as history was made in […]
26th July 2011
London will host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics 1 year from now. The biggest sporting event in the world will be a splendid celebration of sport, achievement and friendship. It really is the greatest show on earth. The city is ready. Construction is on time and on budget with all the major venues on or […]
15th June 2011
Many years ago there was a television show with two well-loved comedians. Half-way through the programme one would ask “What do you think of the show so far?” The other would shout “Rubbish!” You had to be there to appreciate the joke, but it is a catch-phrase that has stuck in popular banter. So after […]
29th May 2011
Last night’s Champions’ League final saw some of the best football this year. It flowed, the passing and the tactics were clever and the goals were a spectacular display of individual skill and talent. Barcelona clearly deserved to win playing some superb attractive attacking football. In Amman I saw lots of Barcelona flags and a […]
3rd May 2011
Royal Weddings don’t come round very often. So when they do, it is worth trying to do something special. The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in London last Friday deserved a special party and we were keen to celebrate it with Jordanians. So we launched a competition for engaged couples to come and […]
13th April 2011
A word we hear a lot in the Arab world at the moment is “dignity”. We heard it in Tunisia in December and in Tahrir Square in Cairo in January. And we are hearing it in Libya and Syria now. Dignity is a fundamental foundation of Arab culture. The word of course means different things […]
9th March 2011
The UK is strongly committed to the European Union’s enlargement process. And so on 9 March the UK’s Minister for Europe David Lidington will give a keynote speech on EU Enlargement in the Hague. We are not only convinced about the value of enlargement but have played a leading role in driving it through. We […]
8th March 2011
In February I took part in five workshops, from Edinburgh to Newmarket, and Leeds to London. These workshops were arranged and supported variously by UKTI, the Asia Task Force, RBS and The Economist Intelligence Unit about India. From the number of businesspeople who attended at each venue, probably over 500 in all, I was left […]
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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 […]