3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
17th November 2016 London, UK
Saving Pangolins
Around 100,000 pangolins are killed every year to satisfy demand in Asia for their meat and scales, making them the world’s most heavily trafficked wild mammal. Their meat is viewed as a delicacy and their keratin scales are falsely believed to possess medicinal properties. These unique animals – which resemble scaly anteaters – are taken […]
17th November 2016 Delhi, India
UK and India sign MoU on Intellectual Property Cooperation
November 7, 2016 marked the cementing of bilateral cooperation between the UK and India on intellectual property (IP) matters. The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) and India’s Department for Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at undertaking bilateral activities to enhance and strengthen our respective IP systems. The […]
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16th November 2016 London, UK
Edging forward with the UK-Japan nuclear dialogue
The UK and Japan share certain characteristics. They are both proud island nations with a strong seafaring tradition. Their citizens are often considered somewhat reserved by others but are well known to enjoy the shared experience of team sports. Importantly for us, there has been a long tradition of seeking excellence in science and technology […]
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16th November 2016 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
RAF Typhoons visit Brunei
Yesterday, I accompanied the Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF )on an inspection of 4 RAF Typhoon (Eurofighter) visiting Brunei at the end of a 6 week deployment in Asia. The 4 aircraft were an impressive sight, lined up next to each other at Rimba Air Base and with an accompanying Voyager refuelling […]
15th November 2016 Guatemala City
Supporting children in Guatemala
This week I visited a British NGO working in Guatemala City with children who live on the streets. Street Kids Direct ( www.streetkidsdirect.org.uk ) is a British-run organisation which offers a ray of hope to children who live in the markets and on the streets around Guatemala City’s main bus station, known as “La Terminal”. […]
15th November 2016 Canberra, Australia
Magna Carta: Innovation and an old bit of sheepskin
It’s been a busy couple of months since I joined the British High Commission as part of the UK Science and Innovation Network. In a short space of time, I’ve worked on topics including antimicrobial resistance, genomics, clean energy and space. I’ve attended a conference on innovation in agriculture, visited a miniature satellite, and helped […]
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14th November 2016 Vienna, Austria
Austrian and British power-houses
Vienna is not Austria – any more than London is the United Kingdom. So I was delighted recently to visit Lower Austria (Niederösterreich) to find out what makes Austria’s largest and second most populous province tick; and to explore and promote connections to the UK. We started our visit in Amstetten, where I sampled tasty […]
14th November 2016 London, UK
I believe that we can still win for the animals
This week, delegates from 54 countries, governments, wildlife professionals, conservationists, wildlife trade experts, charities such as Born Free and our friends in the press and media, will gather in Hanoi, Vietnam, to drive forward efforts to end the illegal wildlife trade, especially the trade in ivory and rhino horn. Vietnam, our hosts, is regarded as […]
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14th November 2016 London, UK
Tackling Illegal Wildlife Trade
The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) has become the fourth most lucrative transnational crime after drugs, arms and human trafficking. Worth as much as $20billion per year, IWT threatens international security, national sovereignties, impoverished rural communities, and countless animals from elephants and rhinos, to lions and pangolins. To tackle IWT, Tusk is currently running two key […]
14th November 2016 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Ilegal Wildlife Trade: it isn’t just about the wildlife
Think of Mongolia, and you probably imagine impossibly open skies, the steppe flecked with horses and a solitary cluster of traditional gers (yurts). Mongolia is the least densely populated country in the world and one of exquisite natural beauty. Sitting in central Ulaanbaatar, a buzzing city of 1.7 million inhabitants, it can be hard to […]
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