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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?
6th April 2016
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Pope and Ukraine’s future
The Pope’s announcement at St Peter’s on 3 April that he is calling for a collection on behalf of the long suffering land and people of Ukraine was a significant gesture. On 24 April, all Catholic parishes in Europe will raise money for a country that since the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014 […]
5th April 2016 Asuncion, Paraguay
Paraguay Knowledge Exports
Little known Paraguay has caught a few headlines in recent years for leading South American countries in economic growth, beating Argentina in beef exports, becoming the world’s first exporter of hydroelectricity, having the world’s third largest river barge fleet, and becoming the world’s 4th largest soybean exporter. What is not known, however, is that Paraguay […]
4th April 2016 Los Angeles, USA
Why So Serious? Brits play serious games with US researchers to improve health outcomes
By Science and Innovation Officer Patricia Gruver and Head of Science and Innovation Washington Catharine Young Imagine a child playing video games for hours on end with their parents’ full awareness and support. Sound like poor parenting? Not if the child is playing serious games. What is a serious game, you may ask? A serious game is […]
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4th April 2016 Tripoli, Libya
Better Bend than Break
What is better? To bend and survive or to break and fail? This question is central to the concept of compromise. No one can expect to get everything they want. Winning feels good, but is not always possible. In all aspects of life, finding the middle ground is often the most sensible and pragmatic way […]
4th April 2016 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Clearing the way home: a blog for International Mine Action Day
Since 2010, the British Government has spent over £5 million on de-mining in Sri Lanka. Anyone wondering why humanitarian demining agencies are still working here years after the end of the war need look no further than the achievements of UK funded deminers in just two months this year. During February and March, the men […]
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31st March 2016
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Religions against extremism
After recent days, we can now add Brussels, Lahore and Istanbul to the growing litany of places directly affected by extemist violence. This was committed apparently in the name of religion, against targets variously identified by the perpetrators as Christians, Israeli tourists, and ordinary “secular” citizens, going about their normal lives. The words “religious” and […]
31st March 2016 London, UK
Authenticity defined: a necessity in the diplomatic workplace
Authenticity. A nice word to say but what does it really mean? And where does it fit in the world of diplomacy? Some may say that there is a contradiction in terms between authenticity and diplomacy. For me, this cannot be further from the truth – in order to be effective diplomats, we rely on […]
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31st March 2016 Beijing, China
UK and China join hands on smart city development
According to figures released by the Chinese Academy of Social Science, by 2018 sixty percent of China’s population will live in cities. At the end of 2013 the figure was 51 percent (about 694 million people). Smart cities will be a vital driver of its urbanization; according to Chinese media, investment of 2 trillion yuan […]
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30th March 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
Mr Council
The Council closed last Thursday after a health sapping, sleep deprived and occasionally fractious month, but the results were good. Following weeks of pressure from all regions, South Sudan accepted that its human rights record should be kept under close scrutiny by the Council and committed to cooperating wtih a strong new Commission of investigators […]
30th March 2016
Justice and Welfare
Introduction by Keith Allan, HM Consul General St Petersburg I was delighted to invite Arkady Gutnikov, Director of the St Petersburg Institute of Law, to share his impressions of a study visit to the UK by a group of Russian lawyers, organised by a newly established London-based charity, Citizens’ Watch International. In this blog, Arkady […]