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?
5th February 2021 United Kingdom
Matthew: My Apprenticeship during COVID-19
Why I chose to do an apprenticeship with the FCDO. A common criticism of university is that it doesn’t prepare graduates with the necessary practical experience to operate in the world of work. For me, an apprenticeship at the FCDO offered the opportunity to take advantage of the theoretical knowledge I gained at university, and […]
Read more on Matthew: My Apprenticeship during COVID-19 | Reply
3rd February 2021 Tokyo, Japan
Two Plus Two makes for a good discussion with Japan
The last time British and Japanese Foreign and Defence ministers met in the “2+2” format with their Japanese counterparts, it was in the splendid setting of the former Royal Naval College at Greenwich. This time, under COVID, it will take place virtually, from electronic conference suites in Whitehall and the Japanese equivalent, Kasumigaseki. But the […]
Read more on Two Plus Two makes for a good discussion with Japan | Reply
2nd February 2021 Canberra, Australia
Be a High Commissioner for a Day Competition #HC4aday
International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate women’s achievements and raise awareness about gender equality. But it’s also an opportunity to stop and reflect on what more can be done to ensure a gender equal world. At a time where the impacts of COVID-19 are being found to be worse for women “across every […]
Read more on Be a High Commissioner for a Day Competition #HC4aday | Reply
26th January 2021 Khartoum, Sudan
Farewell Sudan
I leave Sudan at the end of my posting this week. When I arrived in Sudan in April 2018, I could not have imagined that I would see the historic change that I have. With a dictatorship that had weathered the Arab Spring and was approaching its 30th year in power, prospects for change seemed […]
22nd January 2021 Belgrade, Serbia
Counting COVID
This is the first blogcast I have recorded for several weeks. This is mainly because I had to travel to the UK for family reasons – a journey that was a story in itself. But there is another reason too. I have been spending my evenings doing an online training course. Diplomacy is a career […]
20th January 2021 Geneva, Switzerland
The Next President
I feel a bit sheepish about not doing a blog at the end of the last session. By the time we’d finished in October it really felt like the less said about the non-stop misery fest that was 2020 the better. I’ll put the fact that not a single person mentioned it down to collective […]
18th January 2021
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
2021 – a year of action?
Joint blog by Matt Field, British Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Eric Nelson, U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina 2020 is over. Many of us have been counting the days until the end of the strangest of years. Of course the simple change of a calendar does not fix the problems we face, but it […]
14th January 2021 Geneva, Switzerland
Disarmament in 2021
For the last couple of Januaries I’ve used this blog to look ahead to the year to come in the Geneva disarmament world. After 2020, I hesitate to be definite in predicting anything… The pandemic is far from over. For at least the first part of 2021, it’ll still be impossible to hold large-scale in-person […]
14th January 2021 Geneva, Switzerland
Innovative Finance in Mine Action
At last November’s Meeting of States Parties of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the UK announced that it would be funding research to investigate and provide recommendations on innovative financing options for the mine action sector. I am pleased to say that, after a competitive tender process, our Mine Action Team in London has appointed […]
14th January 2021 Vienna, Austria
Diplomatic lessons 4, Russia 1991-95: have a plan, and break it
Outside “The Two Chairmen”[1], the beer was cool and fresh. My colleague raised his glass. ‘You had children a few years back,’ he said. ‘We can’t decide on the best time. What do you think?’ ‘Some things, you can’t plan,’ I said. I had met Pamela, a colleague in London, in 1990. Later that year, […]
Read more on Diplomatic lessons 4, Russia 1991-95: have a plan, and break it | Reply