14th December 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Occasionally you come across a fact that changes how you think. One such moment for me was when I discovered how the world had managed to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty and hunger between 1990 and 2015. It turns out that we met it five years early, meaning that nearly 1 […]
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30th November 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
The terror that stalked the music halls of Paris and the virus from Africa that reached the streets of Houston have something important in common. They both originated in fragile or failing states. Just as the refugees risking everything and the children facing famine are victims of this same fragility. The British Government published three […]
30th November 2015
One of the best things about the job of British Ambassador is being able to celebrate not only the UK as a whole, but also individually Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Today, as I look out of my window at the Saltire, the Scottish flag flying proudly alongside the Union Flag, I am full […]
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16th November 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
How can Geneva help Paris? I was going to write this week about antimicrobial resistance, the stealthily spreading obsolescence of antibiotics that will cost the world an estimated 10 million lives a year by 2050 if we don’t act now. But after Friday, that somehow didn’t feel right. With over 130 mostly young people massacred […]
2nd November 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Last week was the Week of Women in Britain. A British news magazine went as far as running a front page saying that the battle for feminism had been won, and it it was time to move on. But has it, really? I was good at biology at school. But I kept on coming second […]
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19th October 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Last week Geneva was overrun by humanitarian NGOs, activists, international organisations, think tankers and government delegations. The rather utilitarian Centre International de Conférences Genève (CICG) – a cross between the Barbican Centre and the Hall of the Supreme Soviet – was filled with large crowds, colourful presentations, and displays of national music and dance. They were […]
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5th October 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Just before the session began, someone told me about Mike the chicken who somehow managed to survive for 18 months despite being headless. There’s been more than a few times over the last year and a half when I’ve known how he felt. The demands of trying to work with a young family and badly […]
5th October 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve just spent the weekend at the Milan Expo. Over a hundred countries showcasing themselves in a tradition of world fairs that stretches back to the nineteenth century and the “first World Expo” at Crystal Palace in 1851. The most expensive pavilion was the UAE extravaganza, coming in at allegedly just shy of £100 million. […]
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28th September 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
However it happens, giving birth to a resolution at the UN is always difficult. In olden times, when the Human Rights Council was but a twinkle in the eye of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the process remained unchanged down the generations. Drafts were put together in foetal form by aspiring parent delegations, and then discussed […]
21st September 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
So Bob asked me to guest blog for him this week. There were two ways I could approach this; try and write like Bob, with jokes about cats and the trials of combining domesticity with working at the Human Rights Council. Or, cut my own path. So here goes: I’m now in my 5th year […]