3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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The climate crisis and gender-based violence
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Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
18th December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Ten years of the Sri Lanka Women’s Swimming Project
The second blog in our series describes the work of Christina Fonfé, a British qualified swimming instructor, and her mission to teach the women of Sri Lanka water survival skills. The Asian Tsunami of 2004 silently drowned a quarter of a million people. In Sri Lanka, over 35,000 people lost their lives. OXFAM reported that […]
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17th December 2014 Brasilia, Brazil
Lima: are we still on track for a new climate regime?
For just over two weeks, the sunny Peruvian capital welcomed thousands of delegates from over 190 countries with a challenging objective: to prepare the way for the new climate agreement to be reached in Paris next year. I was lucky enough to join these negotiations once more, as part of the UK delegation. Next year’s […]
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17th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Romanian Revolution through British Eyes/Ken Morgan: ‘A well organized spontaneous revolution’
‘I made my first visit on business to Romania during December 1981. It was then when I first met my future wife. Over the following year I made any excuse to visit Romania just to see her again. In fact, I made over twenty four flights from London to Bucharest. Eventually I found out that […]
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17th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
TCI PLAYING ITS PART IN INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
In early December the Premier the Hon Dr Rufus Ewing and I represented the Turks and Caicos Islands at the UK Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council. This has now become firmly established as one of the key building blocks of relations among the Territories and with the UK Government. This year’s three day-meeting was no […]
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17th December 2014 Mumbai, India
UK-India workshop on affordable assisted living technologies for elderly
Readers of my previous blog might recall that I had mentioned about a follow-up activity that I was working on to bring together UK and Indian experts interested in assisted living technologies (ALTs) for the elderly. I’m pleased to say that we did run a successful event at IISc Bangalore on 19 November. This was a first […]
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17th December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
How will we remember?
The 26th of December 2004 is not a day the world will easily forget. An earthquake measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale off the coast of Indonesia triggered one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history: a monstrous tidal wave that struck the coasts of at least thirteen countries, killing nearly 300,000, of whom […]
17th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Australia, we’re all riding with you today
The eyes of the world focused on a small chocolate cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place this week as the tragic events of the hostage-taking played out. This was front page news in the media in Britain and all around the world. Such events strike a particular chord because everyone thinks “if it’s happening to ordinary […]
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16th December 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria
Pirin Where I Feel Totally Allive
by James Hughes James Hughes has been living in Bulgaria for over 18 years. The Pirin Mountains are a huge expanse of pure wilderness barely touched by civilisation. Remote and wild they offer total freedom to the adventurous! Helicopter support is a dream, support full stop is pretty limited but that’s the joy, Pirin is […]
16th December 2014 New Delhi, India
Looking back at 2014
With another very busy year drawing to a close, I’ve been reflecting on what we’ve achieved and what’s still to do. I can’t do full justice here to all that the team have delivered in the last 12 months but I wanted to share a few highlights with you. I’d also welcome your feedback on […]
16th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Romanian Revolution through British Eyes/Michael Atkinson: ‘Bucharest during the 1989 Revolution’
By December 1989 the situation in Romania for the population was bad. Years of erratic dictatorial rule, ever increasing privation and austerity had produced an atmosphere ripe for change. But because of the very powerful communist tyranny and repression not even the most expert and experienced diplomatic and foreign media observers foresaw the sudden overthrow […]
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