22nd December 2011
Ahead of the 19 December EU-Ukraine Summit in Kyiv, I did an interview on 15 December with the Levyi Bereg website. It was published today. You can read the full interview here (in Russian). We will be putting up an English translation shortly on the interviews and speeches page of our Embassy Website.
19th December 2011
Everyone knows that one of the benefits of Ukraine’s potential integration with the EU is that the EU will help Ukraine to adapt the quality of its administration to EU standards. In other words, the EU will help Ukraine to become a more EU-type country. But how does that work in practice? One of the […]
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15th December 2011
How good does wine have to be to be served at the residence of the British ambassador in Ukraine? The answer is that taste in wine is a pretty subjective issue; but that I’m always on the look-out for good Ukrainian products and, of course, for value for money. I’m also keen on promoting good […]
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14th December 2011
Several people have asked me this week what the outcome of last week’s meeting of EU Heads of State and Government, the European Council, means. I can’t do better than point you towards this excellent blog by my colleague Scott Wightman, British Ambassador in Seoul. The key point is that the UK’s interests in the […]
13th December 2011
‘Surely,’ my Ukrainian interlocutor says, ‘you must accept that Tymoshenko is guilty of something, even if it’s impossible to prove. Everybody knows it. Look how many things she is being charged with.’ ‘But without a credible legal process,’ I say, ‘the charges are meaningless. Adding more and more charges simply makes the legal process look […]
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8th December 2011
The UNIAN news agency interviewed me this week. In case you have not seen it you can read the full interview here (in English) or here (in Ukrainian).
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7th December 2011
It’s often said that bureaucrats and businessmen do not mix. But the opposite is true when I hold a reception at the residence to mark the national rollout of “Youth Business Ukraine”. I’m often accused of being too optimistic about Ukraine. Others accuse me of being too pessimistic. But it’s difficult not to be optimistic […]
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6th December 2011
What would the great Welshman and founder of Donetsk, John Hughes, think of Ukraine today? I was privileged to be invited to Donetsk recently to give the inaugural John Hughes memorial speech. My audience was the Donetsk Chamber of Commerce and the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce. In the speech I paid tribute to John […]
5th December 2011
Shortly after I arrived in Ukraine in 2008, the Mufti of Ukraine, Sheikh Akhmed Tamim, invited me to visit him at the site of the proposed new Kyiv mosque, the first in the city. I was pleased to take up this invitation and had an interesting discussion with him about Islam, and the history of […]
2nd December 2011
There are few things which make me happier than to see the ambassador’s residence here in Kyiv packed with British business types. So I was delighted recently when the residence hosted a “British Design Showcase”, bringing together a series of English and Scottish companies specialising in UK-produced textiles, wallpapers, curtain poles, furniture and fabrics. To […]