Beer is the world’s favourite alcoholic drink, a lingua franca that connects people across the globe who may have nothing else in common but their love of the fermented cereal gift from nature called beer. [...] Successive British Prime Ministers have taken visiting Presidents to their local boozer for the all-important photo op of them both at the bar holding a pint. President Obama and David Cameron swapped bottles of beer from their constituencies. Bill Clinton knew the power of the pint when he visited Ireland during the peace process and drank the obligatory glass of Guinness.

Why is culture important in this day and age? When the world, as some say, is becoming more flat, when social media platforms make instant communication possible, when cities all over the globe resemble each other more and more, of what significance is it that the Philippines should project itself as having a distinct identity and culture—in other words, possess a brand that is as easily identifiable as the Japanese, the Brazilian or the Egyptian?This is the question that cultural diplomacy poses, and which is the challenge given to Filipino diplomats in the 21st century.

Brexit is in many ways just the British manifestation of the broader problem that the EU has never solved: There is a common European institution, but not a common European identity. [...] Obsessed with its own internal problems, it will fail to take the lead in standing up to Russia, it will fail to contribute to security in Africa or the Middle East...