8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
15th October 2020 Colombo, Sri Lanka
From applicant, scholar to panellist: A nervous Chevening journey
Nerves, nerves, and more nerves aptly describes my entire Chevening application experience. I was a bundle of nerves from the point of filling out the lengthy application online to that heart-racing moment I clicked open the acceptance email from the Chevening Secretariat. And this year – as I sat on the interview panel, grading the […]
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15th October 2020 Skopje, North Macedonia
More Women in Politics is a Must
In North Macedonia, we have fought the fight of gender equality since the country’s independence, and even though a lot has been accomplished, we are still far away from achieving full gender parity and equal opportunities. When I was asked, by the British Embassy, to write a blog post on women in politics, I welcomed […]
15th October 2020 Vienna, Austria
Debating: today’s most important skill?
On 29 September the British Embassy Vienna invited young people from all over Austria to join a Debate Workshop. Youth from Salzburg, Upper and Lower Austria, Carinthia as well as Vienna came together, separated by appropriate “baby elephants” (Austria’s 1.5m rule) to practice their skills. Trainers from Debattierklub Vienna, Joy Edobor and Miri Muntean, introduced […]
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14th October 2020
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Visible Women
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) The campaign for local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina is about to begin. While there are many things we do not yet know about how those elections will run, we can be confident that women – as candidates, as decision-makers, and as […]
9th October 2020 Belgrade, Serbia
Faces of Diplomacy
When I walk up the stairs to my office in the Embassy I pass a series of painted portraits and photographs of former heads of the UK’s diplomatic mission in Belgrade. Over the years our diplomatic mission has had different names and a different status. It has been a Legation, a Consulate General and, as now, […]
8th October 2020 Skopje, North Macedonia
Secrets of writing a good Chevening application
We’re always excited when we launch the annual Chevening Scholarship fund. We’ll be spending the next few weeks hoping to encourage as many good quality applications as possible before the closing date on 3 November. Through a scholarship you can gain a world-class education, experience the UK’s diverse and welcoming culture, and become part of […]
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8th October 2020
When things appear too good to be true, they usually are. Except for when they are not…
About a year ago, I decided to quit my job in Sarajevo and move to London in order to pursue my second master’s in something called Psychology of Economic Life. Inevitably, as part of that decision, several others had to be made as well. Those included, but were not limited to, the decision to trade […]
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2nd October 2020 Belgrade, Serbia
Weather Reports
Grey and windy in London; wet in Vienna; sunny in Skopje; ‘improbably sunny’ in Dublin; sultry in Lisbon… Online meetings of British Ambassadors often start with friendly chat that sounds a bit like a global weather forecast. After all, talking about the weather is something that British people are famous for. British diplomats are no exception. There […]
30th September 2020 Skopje, North Macedonia
A hidden gem in the Pelagonia region
Two years into my posting as British Ambassador to North Macedonia, September was my first month working for the recently merged Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the whole team coming back fully into the Embassy and adapting to the “new normal”. With my Embassy team, we have been working remotely and in groups from the […]
29th September 2020 Tokyo, Japan
Former British Consulate in Yokohama
The former British Consulate in Yokohama is a handsome stone building, reconstructed after the Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923, just like the Embassy in Tokyo. Its location, amidst the downtown shops and offices of Japan’s second largest city, was once the bustling waterfront where East met West. Yokohama was one of several Treaty Ports, where […]