8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
3rd June 2015 Gaborone, Botswana
The Kasane Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade
I’ve always thought it better to write about an event, especially a successful one, a few weeks after it rather than risk getting caught up in the euphoria of the moment. So it is with considered reflection that I write about the success that was the Kasane Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) which […]
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3rd June 2015 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Rugby
On Saturday I was lucky enough to attend a rugby match between Uzbekistan and India at the stadium in Dostlik, just outside Tashkent. The Uzbek team won convincingly, finishing with a magnificent try in the last few minutes of the match, when one of the Uzbek players forced his way through the Indian defenders and […]
2nd June 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
‘The Beginnings of that Freedome’
This is not a political slogan. It is the title of an exhibition that the UK Parliament is hosting in celebration of 800 years of Magna Carta. The exhibition commissioned nine artists to produce banners for the historic and beautiful Westminster Hall, celebrating key moments along our journey to modern democracy. If you are not able to visit it in person, you can see the exhibition […]
30th May 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Chevening scholarships: bridging the cultural divide
Chevening Scholarships are the UK government’s global scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organisations. The programme makes awards to outstanding scholars with leadership potential from around the world to study postgraduate courses at UK universities. Around 280 talented young Sudanese have benefitted from Chevening scholarships. I’ve invited them to describe their […]
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29th May 2015 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Henry Moore
On Wednesday I attended a closing ceremony for the exhibition of graphic works by Henry Moore at the State Museum of Arts. Moore was one of the greatest British artists of the twentieth century. He is best known for his sculpture, much of it on a monumental scale and semi-abstract, but with a deep sense […]
29th May 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Needed – civil society
Last week I (briefly) took part in the “Eastern Partnership Civil Society Conference” in Riga. This is part of the European Union’s efforts to reach out to the peoples of the surrounding nations. I wrote about civil society nearly two years ago, when I mused about what the term meant. I concluded that civil society […]
29th May 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
#REASONSTOLIKEISTANBUL PART 2
I was delighted to spend a couple of hours recently with top Turkish journalist and photographer Ercan Arslan. Ercan had come across my Twitter account @leighturnerFCO and the series #reasonstolikeIstanbul, now at #373. He asked if we could visit a few of the places I’d tweeted about. The result was a piece published in the […]
28th May 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
‘Excellence’ in Holy See communications
Amongst the various reforms underway at the Vatican, one that has generated considerable interest is the reform of Holy See communications. There had for many years been criticism of a lack of coordination and high levels of duplication in Holy See communications. The last decade had also seen a number of avoidable communications errors that […]
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28th May 2015 Asuncion, Paraguay
Saliendo de la “burbuja diplomática”
Los Embajadores tienden a vivir y trabajar en las ciudades capitales – no es sorpresa ya que la mayoría de los ministerios y negocios operan allí. Asunción no es la excepción. Como muchos otros Embajadores, buena parte de mi tiempo se divide entre reuniones oficiales y recepciones diplomáticas de distintas índoles. Las mismas brindan buenas […]
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27th May 2015 Asuncion, Paraguay
Getting ‘out and about’
Ambassadors tend to live and work in capital cities – not surprising, as that is where most government ministries and business people operate. Asuncion is no exception. Like many Ambassadors I spend a lot of time in official meetings and diplomatic receptions of one sort or another. These provide good opportunities for progressing Embassy business. […]