9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
14th October 2025
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
29th July 2021 Vienna, Austria
Diplomatic Lessons 10: Immerse yourself
When we arrive on Heybeliada in the Sea of Marmara, a cool breeze lures us to climb on foot to our appointment at the Greek Orthodox seminary at the summit of the island. The route leads through aromatic pine trees. We arrive at the back door of the compound and stroll in. The place seems […]
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23rd July 2021 Geneva, Switzerland
Privilege and Power at the Palais des Nations
After 13 sessions, dozens of resolutions, and innumerable late nights staring square-eyed at incomprehensible drafting changes, my tenure as part of the UK’s negotiating team at the UN Human Rights Council finally concluded last week. It had been a tense session, conducted mostly virtually: as I’ve commented elsewhere, it can be difficult to reach compromise […]
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23rd July 2021 Vienna, Austria
100 Days to COP26
Today, COP26, the 26th UN-Climate Change Conference in Glasgow is only 100 days away. It is the last chance to keep accelerating climate change controllable. When it comes to the health of our planet, every day counts. Our planet is heating up. Through humanity’s impact, we have polluted our home more than it can cope […]
14th July 2021 Vienna, Austria
Diplomatic lesson 9: build your brand
“When you’re an ambassador,” the wise ex-ambassador told me, fixing me with her steely gaze, “you’re miles from London. For visibility, you have to do something that people identify with you – build a brand, if you like.” In January 2008 I attended a conference in Miami on my way to Anguilla (“British diplomat in […]
5th July 2021 Oslo, Norway
My LGBT+ History
Visibility is important. In my first month in Norway the evening news ran a profile piece on me in which I talked about my husband Xavier. A 16-year-old boy wrote to me and told me that seeing this had made him believe for the first time that his dreams were worth just as much as […]
30th June 2021 Tripoli, Libya
A Busy June
June has been an action-packed month for the UK-Libya relationship. We’ve seen a UK ministerial delegation in Libya for the first time in three years, the Libyan Prime Minister in the UK, and the international community coming together for the second Berlin Conference. We have also seen the first visit to Misrata by a UK […]
22nd June 2021 Vienna, Austria
Diplomatic Lessons 8, 2006-8: embrace responsibility
When I started work as head of the Overseas Territories Department of the FCO (as it then was) in July 2006, I inherited from my predecessor three steel cabinets stuffed full of files. They covered all the fourteen territories for which I was responsible. Being a tidy type, I went through them and threw away as many papers […]
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17th June 2021 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Celebrating the Queen: Sri Lanka’s Royal Connection
This week, we celebrate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s official birthday. The Queen has reigned for longer than any other Monarch in British history with a Platinum Jubilee (70 years since her Coronation) planned for 2022. Her extraordinary reign has seen her travel more widely than any other monarch – and one third of her […]
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8th June 2021 Geneva, Switzerland
Responsible behaviours in outer space: towards UNGA 76
2021 marches on, and it’s time for another update on the UK’s initiative on reducing space threats through norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviours. Regular readers will be familiar with the story so far. The UK-sponsored resolution of that name (A/RES/75/36) was adopted by the General Assembly in December. Four key ideas underpinned it. […]
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4th June 2021
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
From Paris to Glasgow, and Around the World
On 5 June, World Environment Day, we all have a chance to stop and think about this incredible, precious planet on which we live. Here in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), we have both experienced the natural wonders, the rivers, mountains and lakes, which represent an invaluable resource for all the country’s citizens. At the same […]
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