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 […]
28th March 2014 USA
There: I thought that would draw you in. What does it have to do with the UK economy though? Well, last week, the UK Chancellor presented the Government’s 2014 Budget. The annual Budget report and statement in Parliament offers an opportunity to take stock of the economic outlook and public finances, while making some policy […]
23rd March 2014 Warsaw, Poland
The GREAT British Sunday Lunch po Polsku Well I’m just back from a mega week long culinary trip round the UK and you know what I had a GREAT time tasting some pretty cool food. What matters is the ingredients and how you cook them. It’s not good enough to dismiss the Brits as having […]
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20th March 2014 Toronto, Canada
SIN Canada, in partnership with UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, will be running an exciting hackathon-type event on dementia in the summer/autumn of 2014. The UK is strongly committed to improving care for people with dementia, launching the National Dementia Strategy in 2009 and the Prime Minister’s […]
19th March 2014 Washington DC, USA
You could say that science runs in my family. Later this year, after several years of studying the effects of influenza, my older brother will earn his Doctorate in virology. My younger sister studies food science and will soon be a registered dietitian. However, the subject was never my calling. But as a member of […]
18th March 2014 Dublin, Ireland
President Putin has now signed a decree recognising Crimea as a sovereign state. The United Kingdom, in common with Poland, the rest of the European Union and the majority of the international community, does not recognise the 16th March Crimea referendum or its outcome as legal or legitimate. Both the British and Polish governments have […]
14th March 2014 Washington DC, USA
Saturday will mark the third anniversary of the start of the conflict in Syria. For me, Syria has been a big part of my working and personal life this week and for the last few years. In my day job we’ve been working with the US and others on ways to secure better access into Syria for […]
13th March 2014
Britain’s longest serving Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, famously looked out from his office overlooking St James’ Park in early August 1914 and, as war loomed, commented “the lamps are going out all over Europe”. I often thought of those words in August 2008, during the Russian aggression in Georgia, not least as my office, as […]
7th March 2014 Beirut, Lebanon
In the 21st century we get angry about many small things: traffic jams, power cuts or a failed internet connection. We get plenty of opportunities for all three in Lebanon. But last Friday I joined an event about an issue worth getting really furious about. The Beirut Bar Association launched a Human Rights Institute booklet […]