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?
10th September 2015 Havana, Cuba
Still Here
Manuel Barcia Paz was a Chevening scholar 14 years’ ago. He is now Professor of Latin American History at the University of Leeds. A big thanks to Manuel for sending me his story. It seems like ages since I arrived at London-Heathrow airport all those years ago alongside fellow Chevening scholar Davide Casagrandi. Since then […]
10th September 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
#AdiosIstanbul 1: a tragic, evocative place
The sun is hot between the shade-trees. In the distance, the sea sparkles. Memorials mark the resting place of 6,000 British soldiers who died at the nearby Scutari Barracks of injuries and illness during the Crimean War of 1854-56, most in unmarked graves; British and Indian soldiers of World Wars I and II; German Jaeger […]
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9th September 2015 London, UK
#wedodigitalcomms
This month we’re looking to recruit digital communications experts who are up for the challenge of ensuring the FCO makes the most of digital to support UK foreign policy goals. The FCO has a great reputation for digital diplomacy but the challenge is huge and we constantly need to innovate. You will be joining the […]
9th September 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Clear Head and Sense of Perspective
In August I arrived in a new country, new city, new home and new job. For diplomats moving is familiar but still brings upheaval. I remember my trepidation over 25 years ago at Helsinki station waiting for the train to Moscow and the start of my diplomatic career. I had little idea of the world […]
9th September 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Queen: a personal view
This blog needs no other title. We all know who we mean when we speak of The Queen. And there is plenty of information around the web at the moment (the BBC, for example, has many fascinating details about Her Majesty’s reign on its website). At 63 years seven months and counting, The Queen this […]
8th September 2015 San Francisco, USA
2015: A Space Blogyssey Part 1
with contributions by Patricia Gruver The exploration of space has gone from science fiction to reality. The 20th century saw a massive expansion in space exploration and technological development, which has continued unabated into the 21st century. The UK is one of the global leaders in the continued advancement of space, reinforcing its commitment to […]
8th September 2015 Los Angeles, USA
2015: A Space Blogyssey Part 2
with contributions by Stefania Di Mauro-Nava *This is part 2 of a multi-part blog series on the UK space sector* Led by Innovate UK, with support from UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the UK Science and Innovation Network (UK SIN), nine representatives from UK-based start-ups in the space and nanosatellite applications sector got the […]
7th September 2015 Khartoum
Back in Sudan Again
The first question almost everybody has asked me since I arrived back in Sudan after a gap of over 30 years is ‘has Sudan changed?’ I was last here in the early 1980s teaching English in a Secondary School in the northern town of Ed Damer. There are of course lots of new buildings in […]
7th September 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
“Be a sponge, not a stone” and 6 other tips for communicating across cultures
If you ever you get the chance to speak to students at the Preparing Global Leaders Institute (PGLI) course, snap it up. Few weeks ago I was back in Struga, on the shores of Lake Ohrid in Macedonia’s sun-blessed south, to do just that. Actually, any opportunity to speak with a group of students is […]
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7th September 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
The Tragedy and Reality of Europe’s Refugee and Migration Crisis
Who could fail to be moved by the photograph last week of the little Syrian boy on a Turkish beach? We have long grown numb to the statistics of the Syrian conflict yet here was a picture that captured with blinding clarity the human tragedy. Hundreds of little Aylans have drowned in the Mediterranean far […]
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