Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

17th December 2014

Paul Brummell, British Ambassador to Romania

by Paul Brummell

Head of Soft Power and External Affairs Department, Communication Directorate

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

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by Peter Beckingham

Former governor in Turks and Caicos Islands

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

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by Sheryl Anchan

Science and Innovation Adviser

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

Laura Davies » Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

by Laura Davies

Former Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

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 […]

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17th December 2014

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

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 New Delhi, India

by Mark Sinclair

Head of Science & Innovation, 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 […]

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16th December 2014

Paul Brummell, British Ambassador to Romania

by Paul Brummell

Head of Soft Power and External Affairs Department, Communication Directorate

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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16th December 2014

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

How to get (even) more investment in Turkey

I recently had the honour to speak on a panel at a Financial Times Conference on International Financial Centres in Istanbul. The conference included an interesting presentation by Turkey’s Investment Support and Promotion Agency (ISPAT) on Turkey’s powerful economic fundamentals and the potential benefits for foreign businesses in investing here. British companies have been paying […]

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15th December 2014

Paul Brummell, British Ambassador to Romania

by Paul Brummell

Head of Soft Power and External Affairs Department, Communication Directorate

Romanian Revolution through British Eyes/ Bernard Marshall: ‘Two days of the Romanian Christmas Revolution in December 1989’ (Chapter II)

Continued from 12 December Friday, December 22nd, Alecu Russo Diplomatic quarters 08.00 am Eleanor had not yet turned up. I was finishing breakfast and wondering in the quietness of morning whether it was all over. Had the police/soldiers and all the apparatus of the Police State finished the job last night, and cleared all the […]

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