27th July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Trade and development. In the UK, it’s a single subject. Just take two examples. First, the UK’s trade policy unit is staffed by officials from both the Department of Business and the Department for International Development. Second, whilst two-thirds of the UK’s Trade and Investment White Paper is about boosting UK exports and attracting more […]
Read more on It's Trade AND Development, Not Trade OR Development | Reply
24th July 2012
Washington DC, USA
Many children dream of being an astronaut – but it wasn’t til I had qualified as a lawyer and worked for some years as a civil servant that the realisation hit me. It happened during my honeymoon, at New York’s Natural History Museum monthly SciCafe. Astrophysicist and Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson delivered an […]
Read more on Dreams of the final frontier, realized | Reply
23rd July 2012
Washington DC, USA
British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was in the US last week. Nothing unusual there you might expect. British Defence Secretaries do indeed see their American counterparts pretty regularly. What struck me about this visit though was the focus on the future. For ten years we have been the closest partners in the military operations of […]
Read more on British Defence and building our forces for the future | Reply
17th July 2012
Washington DC, USA
The Boston area is home to many of the most famous sites of America’s break from Britain – the Old State House, where the royal governors sat; the Old North Church that launched Paul Revere’s famous ride; the harbour where the first tea party took place; and battlefields like Bunker Hill, Lexington and Concord where […]
Read more on An Ambassador’s perspective: Boston knows innovation | Reply (1)
13th July 2012
Washington DC, USA
In Washington DC, the summer climate has reached its miserable peak of 100+ degrees. While my colleagues are packing their swimsuits into their backpacks and heading off to the beach, I am scouring my closets for a warm winter coat to face the cold winds of the South Atlantic with a visit to the Falkland […]
Read more on A trip to 51 degrees south | Reply (3)
12th July 2012
Washington DC, USA
Today the UK is being recognized by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), for its efforts and achievement in energy efficiency. The ACEEE believes that “a country that uses less energy to achieve the same or better results reduces costs and pollution, creating a stronger, more competitive economy.” This is what we’re doing […]
Read more on Winning Gold in the Green Race | Reply
9th July 2012
Washington DC, USA
The following is a guest post by Maeve Atkins, Communications Officer at the British Embassy in Washington. As the newest member of the Communications team at the Embassy, I was especially excited to work my first event – in my first week – at one of Washington’s premiere modern art museums, The Phillips Collection. Every […]
Read more on A GREAT Evening for British Art | Reply
19th June 2012
Washington DC, USA
The following is a guest post by SSgt Steve Arnold, who is one of eight British wounded servicemen racing 3,051 miles across America in eight days with the support of Help for Heroes. SSgt Arnold was carrying out search operations in Afghanistan when an IED exploded taking both his legs, and will be completing the […]
Read more on Battling Back to Race Across America! | Reply
25th May 2012
Washington DC, USA
I guess everyone has a mental image of a place, born from reading books or watching films and TV. So when I travelled to Miami to meet up with the British Consul General, Kevin McGurgan, and his remarkable team, the tropical storm that greeted the plane when it tried to land the first time took […]
Read more on Our man in Florida | Reply
21st May 2012
Washington DC, USA
The countdown clock in our Embassy tells me that the that the London 2012 opening ceremony is barely two months away. The Olympic Torch has begun its tour of the UK. All around the world, athletes are qualifying for their national teams. Here in the US, the first goosebump-raising, Morgan Freeman-voiced Olympics ad hit the […]
Read more on Celebrating Olympic values | Reply
