FCDO Outreach
Reaching out to a wider audience to inform and inspire others
About this blog
19th September 2016
London, UK
Irregular migration is one of the biggest challenges facing the international community. Large movements of people, on a scale not seen since the Second World War in Europe, have been making headlines since last summer – more than one million refugees and migrants arrived in the EU in 2015, risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean. […]
Read more on Irregular migration: a global response to a global issue | Reply
13th September 2016
London, UK
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Read more on Foreign Office Virtual tour | Reply
9th September 2016
Vilnius, Lithuania
In 1991 the UK and Lithuania restored diplomatic relations. The UK recognised the re-establishment of the Independent State of Lithuania de jure on 27 August 1991, although we had never formally recognised the Soviet occupation. Things then moved quickly. Michael Peart, who was the UK’s first Ambassador to Lithuania after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, […]
Read more on Why I am – celebrating the 25th anniversary of our Embassy | Reply
9th September 2016
Kolkata, India
Last December, I flew in for the last time to Minsk, the city of my previous posting. As the aeroplane descended through the clouds, a pale whitish landscape emerged – there had been a light snow fall. Like many Britons, the sight of snow cheers me – I think it’s because we see it only […]
Read more on From Belarus to … Bengal! | Reply (4)
7th September 2016
London, UK
For anyone who has visited Aleppo in peacetime, the news from the city today is enough to make you weep. We are seeing indiscriminate attacks on civilians; the bombing of medical facilities; children pulled bloodied from the rubble. We are forced to watch one of the most ancient homes of civilisation being literally pulverised, the […]
Read more on How Syria can escape Asad’s reign of terror | Reply (3)
31st August 2016
London, UK
I joined the Foreign Office at the beginning of August as a Graduate Intern in the Africa Directorate and to say that I joined at an eventful time would be an understatement: a new Prime Minister, a new Foreign Secretary and two new government departments off the back of June’s Brexit vote (not to forget […]
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11th July 2016
Geneva, Switzerland
As Britain’s ambassador in Geneva I have often been asked in recent days about developments in the UK. There has been much uncertainty and some anxiety. I have sought to explain, but also to reassure. On 23 June the British people voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. It is clear that some […]
Read more on Continuity And Change Following The Referendum | Reply
7th July 2016
London, UK
This week, our Ambassadors and High Commissioners have returned to London for Leadership Week. I took the opportunity to speak with them, alongside my fellow peers in the House of Lords, about the agreement reached at the Paris climate Conference of Parties (COP21) and to provide reassurance about the Government’s commitment to tackling global climate […]
Read more on Climate change: The opportunity of our age | Reply
23rd June 2016
Elizabeth Radford, Senior UK Overseas Territories Officer with the Royal Society of the Protection of Birds, talks about her recent visit to the Turks and Caicos Islands where RSPB is working with local partners on site conservation. It was an overcast day in May when I climbed into a little motor boat and bounced across […]
Read more on Securing pockets of paradise in the Turks and Caicos Islands | Reply (1)
16th June 2016
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
An important event I attended this week was a service at Westminster Abbey to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Anglican Centre in Rome. The Dean was joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a range of ecumenical guests from Rome and the Catholic Church, from Orthodox and Methodist churches, and including the Pope’s Secretary […]
Read more on Disruptive dialogue | Reply (1)
