Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

13th January 2015

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by Jonathan Allen

Former Ambassador to Bulgaria

We Cannot Afford Not to Reform the European Union

The UK and Bulgaria are geographically at opposite ends of Europe. Our economies are different in size and structure. And our historical experiences of building democratic institutions have been poles apart. Yet, as British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond will see for himself this week, our two countries have a lot in common when it comes to […]

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13th January 2015 London, UK

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by Philip Parham

UK Commonwealth Envoy, former British Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates

Together, we will consign Da’esh to the forgotten footnotes of history

The so-called Islamic State has no credibility. It is founded on fear. We – an international community inspired by our common humanity – will defeat it. As 2015 opens up before us, and as we reflect on the events of the past year, the actions of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria stand […]

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13th January 2015 Beirut, Lebanon

Tom Fletcher

by Tom Fletcher

Former British Ambassador to Lebanon

Keeping the ‘Islamic State’ out of Lebanon, and Lebanon out of the ‘Islamic State’

All of us share the sadness of the French people at last week’s terrorist attack in Paris, and of the Lebanese people at the weekend attack in Tripoli. In their condemnation of the deaths in Paris, the four Muftis of Lebanon sent a powerful message against extremism. It was a reminder that many in this […]

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13th January 2015

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Consular work in Australia

In my final few weeks in Australia I’ve been blogging about different aspects of our activities here. People often ask me what our consular work involves. It’s a big part of what we do, involving about one sixth of our staff – some 16 people – plus Honorary Consuls in five cities where we don’t […]

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8th January 2015 London, UK

Caroline Vaudrey

Peacekeeping Team, Conflict Dept

Training peacekeepers to prevent sexual violence, with the British Peace Support Team (Eastern Africa)

Caroline Vaudrey writes about UK-supported training for peacekeepers in Somalia. Preventing sexual violence in conflict – what does that mean exactly and how do you train peacekeepers to do this? I needed to find out. So, I visited a course in Kenya training Africa Union (AU) peacekeepers who would be deployed to AMISOM, the AU […]

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7th January 2015

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by Peter Millett

Ambassador to Libya, Tripoli

Time to Stand and Stare

These days everyone seems to be in a hurry. Having a “busy schedule” has almost become a badge of honour of modern life. Employees rush from one meeting to the next; parents try to cram in lots of activities for their children; we hardly have time to stop and appreciate the world around us. It […]

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7th January 2015

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Pope Francis in 2015

The following is a guest blog by Steve Townsend, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy to the Holy See After the busy Christmas period in the Vatican, January has often been a slightly quieter time. However, under Pope Francis this is not looking likely, as the diary is already filling up fast. On […]

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