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 […]
4th March 2014 Washington DC, USA
On Tuesday evening at Georgetown University, the UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague, received an award from his friend and former US counterpart, Hillary Clinton. The award recognizes his leadership in steering the energies of the British government into the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, an international project to end the use of rape and sexual assault […]
3rd March 2014 Toronto, Canada
3 March 2014 is the first World Wildlife Day, proclaimed by the United Nations late last year to commemorate the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). CITES is a multilateral treaty designed to prevent the trade in plants and animals (or animal parts) from endangering […]
27th February 2014 Washington DC, USA
British films up for Oscars this weekend showcase the UK as a GREAT home for creative industries! One of the many benefits of being a Brit in Washington has to be the ability to watch the many big TV events – which America does so well – at a reasonable hour. While staying up all […]
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24th February 2014 Chicago, USA
I guest-blogged over on The Naked Scientists’ site this month on the AAAS meeting and the visit of David Willetts, UK Minister for Universities and Science. Read it here.
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20th February 2014 Montreal, Canada
As promised, voilà! – the last chapter of the series “smarty blog themes”. The “smart and distinguished” British visitors came by train from Ottawa and stayed at same hotel where John Lennon and Yoko Ono did their Bed-In in Montréal in 1969 (which ended with a spontaneous recording of Give Peace a Chance). But who […]
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19th February 2014 Washington DC, USA
My children are the most delightful people I know. You probably feel the same about your children, your grandchildren, your nieces and nephews. My son is a mix of winning charm and 3 year old defiance. My daughter, who is 9 months, is smiley, chubby and cuddly. My children live in a protective environment: one […]
17th February 2014 New Delhi, India
In elementary Geography we are taught that there are two poles on Earth – one in the Arctic and the other in the Antarctic, but that’s not true! Did you know that there is also a Third Pole? The Hindu Kush-Himalayan region is the Earth’s third Pole as it’s the storehouse of the third largest […]
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14th February 2014 Toronto, Canada
The UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague and Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird met in London ahead of the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, and refreshed the UK-Canada Joint Declaration. We reported on the original Joint Declaration and Joint Innovation Statement in previous posts, and have been working hard over the past couple […]