7th May 2014
Old-fashioned stereotypes, especially when embedded in media narratives, die very hard. One of those is that faith-based institutions, especially Christian churches, have little to say to young people in our Western secularised world. I have to say that this has not been my experience in nearly three years accredited to the Holy See. Of course, […]
6th May 2014 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Today, we have a guest blogger, Hj Aminuddin Hj Md Taib, who has just attended the ASEAN Public-Private-Partnership Study Visit in the UK arranged by our regional FCO Economic and Trade Policy Network. Read on to find out what he has to say about his visit. Back to UK, back home to London. I was […]
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25th April 2014 Washington DC, USA
One of the hardest things I have to do is explain my job. I work on Asia at the British Embassy in Washington DC, and “why?” is the most common question. And, particularly from Americans, “But the UK isn’t a Pacific nation, you haven’t got any skin in the game.” But the simple answer is […]
25th April 2014 Dublin, Ireland
I last commented publicly on the subject of European security at the Institute for Strategic Studies in Krakow in May 2013. A lot has happened since then. The crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea is of course the most significant development. I wrote recently about how Russia’s actions are completely indefensible and what […]
17th April 2014 Washington DC, USA
I’ve been getting into Twitter in the last couple of weeks. I know I’m only five years later than everyone else, but I’m loving the new insights and the quirkiness of it all. Two things were “trending” on my Twitter timeline recently that, seemingly unrelated, made me reflect on the incentives shaping donor effectiveness. The […]
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17th April 2014 Bangalore, India
Last month I travelled to the UK visiting several institutes and meeting stakeholders. I was keen to explore developments in space science and technology in the UK for possible collaborations with India and this brought me to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Space (RAL Space) in Harwell. The RAL Space is co-located with the other large […]
11th April 2014 Oslo, Norway
Utenriksminister William Hague lanserte torsdag 10. april Storbritannias årlige rapport om menneskerettigheter og demokrati. Den sammenfatter informasjon fra det britiske diplomatnettverket, andre lands myndigheter, internasjonale organisasjoner og det sivile samfunn for å gi grundige situasjonsbeskrivelser og redegjøre for arbeidet britiske embetsmenn og –kvinner legger ned for å oppnå framgang og resultater. Rapporten fremhever fem temaområder […]
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8th April 2014 Washington DC, USA
Buzzword alert: If you haven’t heard the phrase big data, you may have been living under a rock for quite some time. It’s everywhere. When people are talk about ‘working in the cloud’ and making ‘predictions about elections,’ they’re talking about using big data. Sounds impressive, right? Well… if you don’t know what the phrase […]
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4th April 2014
Each year on 4 April we observe the United Nations’ International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance. This day aims to raise awareness of the threat caused by landmines to the safety, health and lives of civilian populations, and encourages Governments to develop mine clearance programmes. This global problem has an acute local dimension. Ethiopia is one […]
31st March 2014 Washington DC, USA
Diaspora – from Greek, “scattering, dispersion” Identity can be a complicated thing. What does it mean to be part of a diaspora? Do people always carry the old country with them or do they gradually leave it behind? You could read Zadie Smith or Jhumpa Lahiri for some answers. This isn’t a fictional question for me. Over […]