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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
15th July 2025
International Day of Women in Diplomacy: UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls visit to Geneva
1st May 2025
The UN Commission on the Status of Women: My first visit as UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls
13th February 2015 Beirut, Lebanon
UNITY AND IMPUNITY, TEN YEARS ON
Spring 2005 was when I decided that I would one day work in Lebanon. I was based in our Paris embassy when Rafik Hariri and 21 others were murdered. I remember reading the powerful reports sent by the then ambassador, James Watt, and sharing frantic updates with Lebanese and French friends. The Valentine’s Day massacre ripped […]
13th February 2015 Kingston, Jamaica
Working in Jamaica while studying in the UK? Yes , you can!
Ever so often your private life and your public life collide – thankfully this time it’s for the better! In July, I will attend my graduation at the University of Leicester, where I will be given my certificate acknowledging that I have completed a Masters of Business Administration programme. It is the culmination of almost […]
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13th February 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Speaking your language, and yours’, and yours’………. Do you want to speak mine?
As Brits we often get away with just speaking English. So I never thought I would have to speak more than 20 languages in order to be understood. Especially not when all those languages occur in just one country. In the next few weeks I will be participating in events in Panajachel which will bring […]
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13th February 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Hablando tu idioma y el tuyo y el tuyo…. quieres hablar el mio?
Como británicos a menudo conseguimos llegar a lo que queremos solamente hablando Inglés. Así que nunca pensé que tendría que hablar más de 20 idiomas para poder ser entendida. Especialmente cuando todos esos idiomas se hablan solamente en un país. En los siguientes días estaré participando en eventos en Panajachel, lo que unirá a líderes […]
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13th February 2015 Brasilia, Brazil
Celebrating diversity
Confetti, serpentine, dance, costumes, parades, floats, giant puppets and joy… in a simple approach, perhaps this can sum up the Brazilian Carnival. The festival that aimed to thank the gods for soil fertility and production in ancient Greece came to the Brazilian lands under European influence around 1723, being welcomed with open arms by the […]
13th February 2015 London, UK
Guest Blog from Baroness Anelay: "Freedom to Believe"
This week, we’ve hosted two events at Wilton Park, and in Geneva, on freedom of religion or belief. To mark them, I’m inviting you to join me in our social media campaign #freedomtobelieve. Here’s why: Last month I visited a training centre for Imams and Mourchidats (female spiritual guides) in Morocco. What I witnessed there […]
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13th February 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
World Radio Day
Today is World Radio Day! We mark World Radio Day to raise awareness about the importance of radio in shaping the lives of millions throughout the world, from providing people with everyday news to being a way of spreading information quickly to save lives during natural (or human-induced) disasters. Radio still remains the most dominant […]
12th February 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
STRIKING A “FINE BALANCE” BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT
As well as a magnet for North American tourists seeking warmth from the winter, Turks and Caicos was an attraction for experts from all the other Caribbean Overseas Territories last week, together with representatives from as far away as Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands. The occasion was a meeting of environment specialists to consider how […]
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12th February 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
‘We are all equal’ – learn and play around the country
There are some conceptions for educating children that when they are born, they are ‘tabula rasa’. According to this, children are like sponges, they import whatever we teach them as they grow up. Thereto, if children are tabula rasa, our mission is to teach them of everything that is good. To teach them to care […]
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11th February 2015 Havana, Cuba
Saying what you think where you like
I was surprised to read recently that some Cuban academics are under the impression that British people can’t protest in front of No 10 Downing Street where the British Prime Minister lives. They can and they do. Almost every day people gather opposite Downing Street to air their opinions about one issue or another. They […]
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