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)
7th July 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Magic Numbers
UN diplomats spend much of their lives fretting about securing exactly the right words in international documents. I’ve seen a whole day of negotiations conclude with only a comma added, to mutual back-slapping and a general sense of a job well done, and have spent weeks painfully debating the insertion of a footnote or an […]
6th July 2015 Asuncion, Paraguay
Promocionando Paraguay en el Reino Unido
Nuestro último blog se enfoca en una de las prioridades de la Embajada: la de promover más comercio e inversión en Paraguay. Benjamin Hawksbee, un miembro clave de nuestro equipo, gerente del nuevo Centro de Negocios Paraguayo-Británico localizado en la Embajada habla sobre las iniciativas que toma en conjunto con la rejuvenecida Cámara de Comercio […]
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6th July 2015 Asuncion, Paraguay
Promoting Paraguay in the UK
Out latest blog focuses on one of our Embassy priorities: promoting more trade and investment in Paraguay. Benjamin Hawksbee, a key member of our team who manages the new British Business Centre located in the Embassy, talks about the exciting initiatives he is taking in partnership with a rejuvenated British Paraguayan Chamber of Commerce to […]
6th July 2015 Brasilia, Brazil
Our woman In… Ribeirão Preto – Guestpost by Jaqueline Wilkins
When Almeida Júnior painted O Caipira Picando Fumo in 1893, a work that so well portrayed the ordinary man in the interior of São Paulo, he did not imagine that 122 years later the caipira would be enjoying high-quality operas, producing urban culture in its various forms, travelling abroad and enjoying international cuisine, driving Land […]
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6th July 2015 Madrid, Spain
Three thoughts on ambition, hunger and impact
I spent a lot of March, April, May and June preparing, discussing, drafting, revising, finalising, submitting, quality controlling and validating staff performance appraisals. I reckon I was involved in well over 100. I know many of my colleagues will have worked on many, many more. It’s important work so it has to be rigorous, transparent […]
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6th July 2015 London, UK
Come and join our digital team
The FCO has a well established reputation for its digital work. At the heart of driving change is the Digital Transformation Unit, a talented team made up of diplomats and digital specialists working on digital solutions crucial to the UK – tackling conflict, increasing prosperity and helping Brits in trouble overseas. Here’s what’s coming up:- […]
2nd July 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Celebrating Waterloo in the Caribbean
While the ceremonies to mark the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo took place in Europe, tucked away in a corner of the Caribbean a more modest event with some 100 participants, including the Premier of TCI and former Chief Ministers, was held to mark another “Waterloo”. In 1815 a wealthy Bermudan salt merchant, […]
2nd July 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Video: the perils of conspiracy theories
A harvest fails. Saboteurs are blamed. A well-know personality dies tragically. A secret plot is alleged. Another well-known personality dies tragically. Rumours circulate that he has faked his death and has been seen in a supermarket near Basingstoke. I have written several times in this blog about conspiracy theories. Now, if you don’t mind hearing […]
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2nd July 2015 Canberra, Australia
Let’s talk about dialogue
What do you get if you put 30 academics and diplomats in a room for two days? No, this is not the start of some lame joke about hot air, or people thinking twice before saying nothing, it’s what happened in Sydney recently. I was part of the second Australia-UK track 1.5 Asia Dialogue last week. […]
1st July 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Global networks
This is a networked world. And yet there are few genuinely global networks out there. By that I mean networks that have a capacity to operate globally, co-ordinated centrally but operating in capillary fashion, horizontally in a radial pattern as well as vertically in a hub and spoke model. One of the reasons why we […]