UK in Armenia

On Saturday 5 September I leave Yerevan for the last time.  I’ll be transforming back into a normal person after 3+ years of being driven around (thanks Edik and Aram) with a Union Jack on the car bonnet.  It’s been a privilege to represent Her Majesty’s Government in this young/old nation; to meet such a […]

Today all across the UK and in Embassies around the world we celebrate the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta (latin for ‘Great Charter’).  In 1215, rebellious barons marched on London, fed up with King John constantly raising taxes to pay for his disastrous wars in France.  The barons forced the King […]

Why were the German Ambassador and I at a British-German football match on Friday afternoon, singing Christmas carols and drinking hot soup from tin mugs? What was UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon doing at a penalty shoot-out between British and German delegations to the UN? For a week, in football matches across the UK […]

One of the themes of this year’s NATO week was UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.  On November 13 the MFA hosted a roundtable on Armenia’s approach to UNSCR 1325, with stakeholders from government (MFA, MOD, Ministry of Social Affairs, PM’s office), international organisations and NGOs.  One of the themes of […]

What a week for extraordinary anniversaries.  On November 11, in the UK and the Commonwealth we commemorate Remembrance Day (in the US, Veterans Day) – re  membering the 100 years which have passed since the start of World War 1, and the many lives lost and lives changed forever in the devastating wars of this […]

I really enjoyed my visit on Saturday to Armenak & Ann Tadevossian’s medical centre in Kosh, a great example of a UK diaspora project.  This is a newly-built, well-equipped polyclinic which, thanks to the generosity of diaspora and local business donors, runs rehabilitation services for children with disabilities during the week, and offers specialist appointments […]

Following the terrible events of the last few months – in Ukraine, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Gaza, and ebola in West Africa – describing our world as ‘unpredictable’ no longer seems adequate.  It feels like some of our most basic assumptions –  about civilized nations’ best interests, a Europe finally at peace, and the nature of […]

Ahead of the NATO Summit, to be hosted by the UK this year on September 4-5 in the beautiful, mountainous country of Wales, we are highlighting some of the human stories behind NATO and the UK armed forces.  Our first ‘NATO in a nutshell’ interviewee is Lt-Col Nick Wilkes, the UK’s Defence Attache for the […]

The lamps are going out all over Europe.  We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime’ – Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary, 3 August 1914 Just a few days ago, I stood in the study of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef, in his summer villa in Bad Ischl, Austria, looking at the very […]