SHORT STORY PRIZE WINNERS ANNOUNCED
The FBC was delighted
to be inundated with entries for this competition.
Baroness Quin chaired the jury of Ian
Rankin, Julian Barnes, Bonnie Greer and Will Skidelsky of Prospect
magazine. The judges
agreed that the standard was extremely high and debate was intense
as to who should win.
Sixth formers
First prize: Caitlin Hart
Second prize: Jessica Sinyard
Third Prize: James Gibson
Undergraduates
First prize: Sarah Collier
Second prize: Daniel Bird
Third Prizes: Kitty Wheater and Rachael Allen
The stories will be puplished on our website next week and announced
in Prospect magazine shortly.
RECEPTION
FOR PRESIDENT SARKOZY
Thursday 27 March in the Emirates Stadium, London
Following
the 2008 Franco-British summit , the FBC organised a reception
enabling
a number of leading figures from the business, cultural and
academic worlds of France and the UK to meet President Sarkozy
and Prime Minister Brown. Ann Kenrick is shown above
with the President and Bobby Barnes of the PFA. Those
present also included some Franco-British Council members,
Raymond Blanc, Jean-Pierre Garnier, Howard
Davies,
and Ronnie Wood,
shown here deep in conversation with the President. After the event, the President wrote: Je sais combien le Conseil
franco-britannique est devoue a
l'approfondissement de notre relation bilaterale dans toutes
ses dimensions et je connais l'intelligence
de ses travaux et de ses reflexions. J'ai pris plaisir a
rencontrer tant de membres qui contribuent a cela.
FRANCO-BRITISH
RELATIONS FOLLOWING THE FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS -
FBC BIENNIAL LECTURE
Tuesday 19 June at the Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
Lord Jay of Ewelme
and SE Ambassador Errera spoke
to an invited audience of parliamentarians, academics,
journalists and other friends of the FBC. The current
Ambassador to the UK and former Ambassador to France
agreed that the timing could not have been better as
Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Nicolas
Sarkozy were, at the same time, involved in a teleconference
to prepare for the meeting of EU leaders. Michael Jay
welcomed the new era in bilateral relations and looked
forward to greater co-operation on climate change, Africa,
migration, anti-terrorism and defence isssues, Gerard
Errera talked of the importance of common trust and the
need to define and defend European interests.
Download
Lord Jay's speech
RISK MANAGEMENT AND POLICY
MAKING
Held in Paris in the wake of the discovery
of Avian flu in the UK, this timely seminar set out to enable
experts to share experiences in the area of Risk Management.
The examples of risks related to food and to the nuclear industry
were examined in some depth, as was the changing role of the
public and of NGOs in this context. The Chairs were SE Jean
Gueginou and Baroness Quin, the seminar was organised jointly
with the Fondation Singer-Polignac and the full text of the
French and British interventions will be published by Harmattan
in the near future.
NEXT SEMINARS:
Other seminars in 2008:
- Energy and the environment
- Agriculture
- Public sector reform
CHALLENGES OF
DIVERSITY IN FRANCE AND THE UK
This seminar
took place in London on the 13/14 November, co-chaired
by Pierre Joxe and Trevor Phillips (left), who started
the day by saying ‘Britain and France have to
be leaders in Europe. We are the most diverse, the most
proactive in meeting the challenges and the most creative.
Our ambitions, to be nations at ease with diversity, are
the same.’ The seminar was enriched by the contributions
of HRH Prince Hassan of Jordan and David Lammy, MP for
Tottenham and Culture Minister (below), who highlighted
the fact that he is one of a handful of minority ethnic
elected government ministers in the whole of the EU. Read
the full text of his speech.
The afternoon was spent in break-out groups focusing on education,
culture and employment. Proposals to face and overcome the Challenges of Diversity
included:
- the creation of an organisation, to identify and support ethnic minority
cultural and sports leaders
- the collection of more and better data in both countries
- encouraging the private sector to set targets and create accountability,
and to develop more partnerships with local communities.
2004
CENTENARY OF THE ENTENTE CORDIALE
Cross
Channel Currents; 100 years of the Entente Cordiale
e
This book was launched on 8 April 2004 at
the Foreign Office by The Rt Hon Jack Straw and HE Gerard
Errera, the French Ambassador. Many contributors attended
as shown above and Andre Fontaine, former editor of Le Monde
spoke on 'The Future of the Entente'.
Download
speech by Andre Fontaine
The
book tells the story of the triumphs and tragedies of
this hundred-year relationship, as well as the common
interests and shared pleasures that give it substance. More
details and ordering information
Download
the introduction. Download
the contents.
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