8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
30th October 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Open Plan
Several correspondents have asked me for my impressions of Belarus. So last week I wrote about a day I spent in one town of Belarus. This week, I decided to write about something very different: office space. I will be returning to London in January. I am likely to work in my home department, the […]
30th October 2015 London, UK
UK receives International Award for Open Government
At the Open Government Summit in Mexico City this week the UK was presented with the International Award for Open Government marking our outstanding achievement in the area and our commitment to the principles and benefits of Open Government. Yet the majority of UK citizens are not aware of the revolutionary progress we have made […]
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29th October 2015 Havana, Cuba
Soft Power Superpower
One phrase stood out from the Italian Prime Minister’s speech at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana yesterday. Prime Minister Renzi said that even though Italy might not be a superpower in some areas, it should be considered ‘a cultural superpower’ given the strength of its architecture, music and art. Having spent a few […]
29th October 2015 Tripoli, Libya
Partnership is the Way
The people who work for us on Libya got together last month. British Embassy and British Council. Brits and Libyans. The aim was to look at the partnership between different organisations and different people all working for the same goals. To help us work together as a team, we had some open exchanges. The most […]
29th October 2015 Beijing, China
Science and Innovation in the Golden Era
What better way to kick off our new SIN China blog than with a look at Xi Jinping’s high profile State Visit to the UK last week. Science and Innovation was a key element. In addition to Royals, carriages and banquets, Xi visited Imperial College and the National Graphene Institute at Manchester University. The UK and […]
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29th October 2015 Canberra, Australia
Celebrating the very best of British film
Last Monday I was at Parliament House in Canberra for the première of the wonderful British film Suffragette. The evening featured two fantastic performances, the first by Carey Mulligan in the film’s lead role – surely worthy of an Oscar nomination at least. The second was by Ian Smith, our Honorary Consul for South Australia. Epsom-born […]
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28th October 2015 London, UK
Switching on to digital: Presidential elections in Belarus
On 11 October Belarus went to the ballot box to elect its President. Although the official turnout in elections is usually high, engagement is quite low due to poor conditions for political pluralism in the country. International observation missions, such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Office for Democratic Institutions and […]
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28th October 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): Romania’s Voice
I attended earlier this month in Bucharest a conference entitled “TTIP: Romania’s Voice”. It was organised by a Romanian member of the European Parliament named Sorin Moisa, and incorporated the outcome of an interesting national consultation exercise sounding out the views of Romanian businesses towards TTIP. It also provided the opportunity to listen to an […]
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28th October 2015 Gaborone, Botswana
A year after the Botswana 2014 General Elections: A personal experience
A year ago, with election fever gripping the country, and conscious of Botswana’s sound democratic principles and wanting to experience and test them, I left my house in Gaborone at 05:00 so I could be at the opening of a polling station in Lobatse. What immediately struck me was the long queue of citizens, women […]
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28th October 2015 Khartoum
Women, Peace and Security: 15 years on
One of the privileges of being a woman in Sudan has been in being welcomed into the homes of families and spending time with other women. During one of my trips to the North of Sudan, my husband and I were welcomed into a family house near Kerma and as normal I joined the women […]
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