26th November 2013 Washington DC, USA
For me, the transatlantic relationship is personal. 16 years ago on Sunday, my family and I (and our dog Matty) emigrated from Huntingdon, near Cambridge, to Chico, California. Of course, there are more extreme contrasts than the UK and California, but as a twelve year-old, everything was so different. When we moved in November 1997, […]
25th November 2013 Tunis, Tunisia
Below is a transcript of my first video blog. You can view my video by visiting our Facebook page. Assalamu Alaikom! I am pleased to be here in green Tunisia. It is such a privilege to be here in such an important time of Tunisia’s history. Britain and Tunisia share a long history. On the wall […]
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25th November 2013 New Delhi, India
George Bernard Shaw said “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples, each of us has one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange ideas, we each have two ideas.” The sharing of ideas is essential for any knowledge economy. India […]
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21st November 2013 Beirut, Lebanon
Tomorrow I’ll hand a letter from Prime Minister Cameron to President Sleiman, with formal congratulations on Lebanon’s 70th anniversary. The wonderful people at Rag Mag also asked me to write an open letter to mark the day. This is a tough and precarious assignment, and it will annoy or anger some people. But I’ve had […]
21st November 2013 New Delhi, India
Last week in New Delhi, new funding up to £5mn from the Technology Strategy Board which is the UK’s innovation agency, with matched resources from India’s Department of Science and Technology was announced to support joint Research & Development projects led by businesses in the two countries. The UK-India Collaborative Industrial R&D Programme aims to […]
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17th November 2013 Chennai, India
The sudden absence of adrenaline, imminent deadlines, last-minute glitches and 10 things to do at once has actually brought a massive and slightly dreary sense of anti-climax. I probably shouldn’t be that surprised that several colleagues have fallen ill: like a car, human beings aren’t designed to go from fifth gear into first instantaneously. Even […]
15th November 2013 Chennai, India
That’s it. It’s all over. Just under an hour ago, their Royal Highnesses flight took off for the short hop to Colombo and what could be a more difficult Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting than is usual. The day dawned beautifully for the Prince of Wales’ 65th birthday – divine intervention in God’s own country? […]
14th November 2013 Chennai, India
Yesterday was simply amazing. The visit to Cochin shipyard to see the extent of UK involvement in this thriving operation, including by Rolls Royce and MTS, was a much bigger event than any we could ever have managed. Thousands of workers stopped and cheered, and His Royal Highness seemed to engage with all of them. […]
13th November 2013 Chennai, India
Today is the most challenging day. Two separate programmes for their Royal Highnesses mean that all our staff will be in the field, leaving limited surge capacity to handle any unexpected issues. and weather forecasts predicting the start of the monsoon add to the risks. His Royal Highness will visit Cochin Shipyard where UK companies […]
12th November 2013 Houston, USA
I recently had the opportunity to join Sir Mark Walport, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, on his trip through Texas before he headed on to Canada. Our Science and Innovation teams coordinated his visit, which focused on the potential for building UK-North America links in energy and sharing best practices in policy and regulation. […]
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