The British Council's activities in Portugal and the other 120 countries in
which we operate are firmly rooted in a commitment to the principles of
partnership and mutuality, while offering opportunities for insights into
and debates about the state of the contemporary United Kingdom, our role in
Europe, our place in the world and - as seen from this seat - our enduring
relationship with Portugal.

Regular readers, meanwhile, will have noted that we have a new house-style.
Our 'union flag' dots have gone and have been replaced with four bold dots.
But what, you might ask, does it all mean? Well, there is both a practical
and a philosophical response. On the practical side, we were finding that
the old logo, which has served us well, did not reproduce well over the
internet: it was what some of my colleagues would call 'IT-unfriendly'. That
became the starting point for a re-think of our 'brand identity', which, in
turn, led to the four dots.

Four bold dots. A lot more thought went into these four dots than might
appear at first glance. We needed to find something which 'said' something
about our organisation, and about what we represented. Hence this new
IT-friendly symbol, which emerged as an abstract representation of the four
entities which, together, constitute the United Kingdom, i.e. Wales,
Northern Ireland, Scotland and England. On a more philosophical, and more
tentative, level, we are also hoping that through the medium of the four
dots we manage to encapsulate some of that spirit of bringing people
together for cultural exchange, always giving equal weight to different
values, ideas and experience, which we believe the Council aspires to.

In fact, writing as a Scot, I hope that the four-ness of the dots might be
helpful. It may be a personality defect, but I bristle, as do most of my
compatriots, every time I see the word 'Inglaterra' used when I know that
what the writer actually means is 'Reino Unido' or 'Grã-Bretanha'. And
while I understand that this infelicity is the fruit of long years of
(mis)usage in Portugal, and indeed in other countries, I find that this
knowledge doesn't help me control my bristling any better! So perhaps the
four dots will help in my one-person crusade to encourage a more
culturally-sensitive use of these emotive words; England, Scotland, United
Kingdom ...

And with that off my chest I can now focus on this latest issue of 'in English!'. Yet another innovation! We felt 'the Journal' had served us well as a title, bit that it had developed a 1950s/tweeds/pipe-smoking feel which is not how most of us now see the UK (although wearing tweeds and smoking have not been outlawed in the UK ...yet!). 'in English' is a bit tricky as a title, but we think it speaks pretty clearly for itself. We hope you like it, or, at least, can get used to it.

And congratulations to our hard-pressed editor, Julie Tice, on inspiring an impressive number of British Council staff to produce articles of real interest
and practical value. Equally, Julie has cajoled excellent contributions
from Scott Thornbury and Debbie Horsley. Congratulations, and thanks, to all.

Finally, back to the identity, the dots, and the new name. If you have a view on the
changes, whether you approve, are simply puzzled, are deeply sceptical, or
even hostile, do let us know. Similarly, you might wish to agree (or not)
with my views on the 'Inglaterra/Reino Unido' theme. An e-mail will only take
you a couple of minutes, and we will be delighted to receive it!

Enjoy 'in English!.'

Robert Ness
Director
British Council Portugal