5th November 2026
United Nations General Assembly: championing women and girls’ rights
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
1st October 2026
A Year Too Big for Two Suitcases: Notes From a Chevening Scholar
11th May 2026
The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill: turning a global ocean agreement into UK law
31st August 2016 Havana, Cuba
Hasta la vista, Cuba!
That’s it. I’m off. It’s been four years. Four fascinating, complicated, frustrating, perplexing, wonderful years. Is Cuba the only country in the world where it’s simultaneously fast and furious and time stands still? There’s been change. Obama came and went. In El Vedado, a Maserati now parks alongside a Moscvich. People now IMO their Miami […]
31st August 2016 London, UK
My First Month at the Foreign Office
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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31st August 2016 Science and Innovation Network
Why Global Britain is driving the fintech revolution
The UK’s history of innovation goes back a long way. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, we have carved out a far-reaching global reputation for creative thought and technological excellence. But national reputations only stick if they are backed up by concrete action – and ours has remained solid because we live it every day. In […]
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30th August 2016 London, UK
Athletes go gold at Rio … but gold doesn’t react!
The UK’s recent success at the Olympics showed how working collectively as a team, we can achieve greatness, despite being a relatively small nation. In Government, we understand that used carefully, sporting prowess can be a source of soft power for the UK, as are many other sectors of which we are proud: fashion, film […]
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30th August 2016
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Potsdam Prism
In January 1992 in the early days of a reunified Germany I visited Potsdam after dropping off the Vilnius Diplomatic Bag at the British offices in the old Berlin Olympic Stadium. I wanted to see the Palace of Sans Souci, where Frederick the Great had employed Quantz and CPE Bach. But even after three years […]
29th August 2016 Bangalore, India
UK-India aerospace partnership can scale new heights
Aerospace is a UK manufacturing success story in the global business of making planes. We are a world leader in innovation, design and manufacturing parts for planes. Over the past several years the UK Science and Innovation Network and Department of International Trade have worked together to boost collaboration between the UK and India. This […]
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26th August 2016 Tripoli, Libya
LIBYA’S YOUTH
My last visit to Tripoli included a meeting with young activists. They were very clear about what they wanted: a voice in their future. They were no different from young people anywhere in the world. They wanted a better world: security, a job and a way to contribute to decisions that affect them. If you […]
25th August 2016 London, UK
Configuring the emergency travel documents web application
A while ago, I blogged about the vast levels of complexity we faced digitising the application process for Emergency travel documents. Today I’d like to look at a little more detail at one of our responses to that: building a data-driven application and how we control what is displayed. In my earlier blog, I talked […]
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23rd August 2016 Mogadishu, Somalia
UK’s work in Somalia
Over the next few months, I’ll be using this blog to share with you a little of my life and work here in Mogadishu. This week I’ve been struck by the variety of my work. It won’t be a surprise to hear that we’ve been working hard on security and governance issues. They are staples […]
22nd August 2016 Science and Innovation Network
John Kampfner on Our Creative Industries
British culture is famous around the world, with our theatre, our television, our music and our films thrilling millions who have never visited the country and proving a major attraction for many who do. Attention may have shifted this summer from Sherlock, Adele and Harry Potter to our cyclists, gymnasts and rowers at the Rio […]
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