1. What does global citizenship mean to you?

I see it as being open to the world and best defi ned as to what it is not. It’s not being inward-looking and seeing your own country as THE model. It’s about knowing your own country’s good and negative aspects better by seeing it from the outside. It’s about being open to the world and having the mind-set to experiment; travellers do this. Living abroad makes all the above concerns even more solid. Being “the foreigner” makes you more accommodating and welcoming to the foreigners you meet in your own country.

2. In what ways are you a global citizen?

I’ve travelled and lived in three diff erent countries for long periods (Spain, Angola, Brazil). In Brazil alone I have lived in four very distinct cultural areas: Rio, Sao Paulo, Salvador & Paraiba. I took an interest in foreign aff airs on TV and in newspapers from an early age. International issues matter to me. I took an active interest in politics in campaigns: Nicaragua Solidarity, Anti-Apartheid, Chile Solidarity, and I went to Angola as an international volunteer. So it went beyond an academic interest. As a reporter I’ve covered large swathes of the globe, often writing about specifi c global industries: mining, energy, commodities, etc.