17th July 2025
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
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
26th January 2015 Washington DC, USA
Falklands Symposium: Q&A with Dr Virginia Edgcomb (USA)
Following in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, the first ever Pan–American Science Delegation to the Falkland Islands is participating in a week-long mission to showcase the beauty of the UK South Atlantic Overseas Territories and immense opportunities for scientific research and collaboration in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Scientists from the US, Canada, Chile, […]
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26th January 2015 Toronto, Canada
Meet our Bloggers: John Preece
Every week one of our bloggers will introduce themselves to the world and talk about how much fun it is working in Science Policy. We start with John Preece in Toronto and next week the team’s only non-scientist, Ashley Tomlins in Vancouver, will introduce himself. John Preece – Toronto I’m a chemist by training, completing […]
26th January 2015 London, UK
A Day in the Forced Marriage Unit
Written by Marie Jenkinson – a caseworker in the Forced Marriage Unit of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Forced Marriage Unit Helpline: 0207 008 0151 Forced marriage is an appalling and indefensible practice and is recognised in the UK as a form of violence against women and men, domestic and child abuse, and a serious […]
26th January 2015 London, UK
Consular appointments – from alpha to beta
The pilot programme for our consular appointments booking service has been running as a public beta for a few weeks now, so it’s time to take stock of progress. Since my last post on the discovery phase for consular appointments, we have focused on building and iterating the product, training staff on how to manage […]
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25th January 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
Burns’ night through my eyes
Burns’ night is a big deal in Scotland. I come from the west of Scotland, just up the coast from where Robert Burns lived and worked in Ayrshire. As a child, I remember in the middle of every dreich (cold, rainy and grey) month of January, my parents, aunts & uncles etc, would get dressed up to […]
25th January 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Immortal Memory
There aren’t enough Scots in Ethiopia. Strange, because they seem to get everywhere else. Even when we organised a Burns Evening in Addis Ababa last year with the help of Diageo, there weren’t that many Scots there. This 25th January, we will have to mark the 255th Anniversary of Robert Burns’ birth in 1759 virtually, […]
24th January 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
Thoughts for UK and Macedonia cooperation 2015
Just past the eight-month marker as the no-longer-quite-so-new Ambassador, and having come through my first western-Christmas-New-Year-Orthodox-Christmas holiday season, I have been talking with colleagues and partners about the year ahead. Don’t worry, this blog is not about our business plan. It’s more about the UK-Macedonia bilateral relationship. Our two countries don’t enjoy the kind of […]
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23rd January 2015 Washington DC, USA
Falklands Symposium: Q&A with Dr Cesar Perez Tejada (Mexico)
Following in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, the first ever Pan–American Science Delegation to the Falkland Islands is participating in a week-long mission to showcase the beauty of the UK South Atlantic Overseas Territories and immense opportunities for scientific research and collaboration in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Scientists from the US, Canada, Chile, […]
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23rd January 2015 Washington DC, USA
Falklands Symposium: Q&A with Professor Scott Baker (USA)
Following in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, the first ever Pan–American Science Delegation to the Falkland Islands is participating in a week-long mission to showcase the beauty of the UK South Atlantic Overseas Territories and immense opportunities for scientific research and collaboration in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Scientists from the US, Canada, Chile, […]
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23rd January 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Abriéndose hacia un desarrollo económico
La Ley de Soborno de 2010 del Reino Unido es de alguna manera un desafío para la legislación. Esto nos obliga a todos a pensar como funcionamos. Esto puso un marco legal en el cual hacemos estos juicios. Esto va al corazón de prácticas éticas y responsables. Así que pasar 5 días hablando de ello […]
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