It so happens that Argentine Malbec is attractive enough (on its own) to lure people into events organized by the embassies. An ideal lobbying opportunity. Throw in some tango music and dancers as well as beef or other delicacies and you have an irresistible package. 

An £18m fund is being earmarked to encourage international collaboration and cultural exchange, and generate more money by sending the best of English arts and culture overseas. 

Seomra ranga - "classroom", in Ireland's indigenous language - reads a cardboard sign tacked onto a door. A little further down the hall, a leabharlann is filled with books. It is a very Irish scene, but in a very unlikely place: East Belfast Mission on Newtownards Road. Across the street, a mural commemorates the Protestant paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force. Union Jack flags fly from lampposts in the shadow of the shipyards that built the Titanic.