22nd January 2010
My first ever blog entry last April noted my efforts not to be discouraged when I attempted to speak Ukrainian and people burst out laughing. In a later entry, I noted learning the invaluable phrases “I completely agree”, “I share your opinion”, and “You’re totally wrong”. Last week I made some new MP3 files of […]
20th January 2010
Tuesday night at the residence and another great British export to promote. We’re here with a group of students, education experts and business people to mark the launch of the EdinburghBusinessSchool’s MBA programme in Ukraine. It’s always great to meet students, and this is no exception: the inaugural group includes lawyers, bankers, business people and […]
14th January 2010
For months now, Ukrainian political parties have been accusing each other of preparing massive fraud during the first and second rounds of the Ukrainian presidential election on 17 January and 7 February. So I’m intrigued to hear several respected experts express the view this week that, in fact, many of the accusations being thrown around […]
10th December 2009
Corruption is a big problem in Ukraine. The country is at place 146 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index alongside Cameroon, Ecuador, Kenya, Russia, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste and Zimbabwe. The trend isn’t good: between 2004 and 2006, Ukraine climbed from place 122 (out of 145) to place 99, but has […]
16th November 2009
One disadvantage of the Ukrainian election campaign is that a long-standing series of “Ukraine Says No to Racism” posters on the way to my nearest tube station has been covered up with pictures of presidential candidates. That’s a pity, because today is International Day of Tolerance, a theme which I see the Interparliamentary Union recently […]