8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
15th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Britain’s global horizons: international partners and penguins
The UK’s fourteen Overseas Territories add a particular dimension to British foreign policy and our world view. I often write in these pages about the global Holy See network. The United Kingdom has long had, and still retains, a global role, of which our fourteen Overseas Territories are both one result and an ongoing manifestation. […]
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14th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Town Like Alice
“The Alice”, Alice Springs – the very name evokes our image of the “real” Australia. In fact the average Australian lives in a suburb in Sydney or Melbourne: it’s one of the most urbanized societies in the world. But the Outback certainly lives up to its image: searing heat, deep red ochre soil, and vast […]
12th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Romanian Revolution through British Eyes/ Bernard Marshall: ‘Two days of the Romanian Christmas Revolution in December 1989’ (Chapter I)
‘December 21st – 10.30 am on Palace Square, Bucharest “Please move back “, said the tall Securitate official. Three diplomats moved back a few steps onto the now empty square. “I asked you to move – please move back “, he ordered again – in surprisingly refined and clear English. He was wearing a long […]
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12th December 2014 Skopje, North Macedonia
Education: Macedonia 2035 – the view from Mavrovo
Since I arrived in Macedonia, many people have spoken to me (usually with enthusiasm, though sometimes rather wistfully) about the role of Wilton Park in 2008 in helping to establish parliamentary procedures here. I have often been asked why we haven’t, given the success of the 2008 conference, done more Wilton Park events for Macedonia. […]
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12th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Real rights for real people
This week I was in Khon Kaen, to attend the 7th Annual Isaan Human Rights Festival. The festival was jointly held at Khon Kaen and Ubon Ratchathani Universities on 10 December, in recognition of “International Human Rights Day”, and was attended by a wide range of local community activists, as well as diplomatic colleagues from […]
12th December 2014 Gaborone, Botswana
International Anti-Corruption Day
December 9 is International Anti-Corruption Day and last week Transparency International released its annual Perceptions of Corruption report. So it seems a good moment to reflect on corruption. What is it, actually? Why does it matter? And what should our response be? Transparency International defines corruption simply as “the abuse of entrusted power for private […]
11th December 2014 Montreal, Canada
Looking up : Canada and the UK on route to the stars !
I am not taking credits for this wonderful blog – only for my limited driving skills to the Canadian Space Agency and as photographer. This blog was written by my new colleague and blogger Anne Cécile Dequen CG’s assistant and trade associate in Montreal. Conquering space is more valid today than ever. Indeed, space represents a fertile ground to […]
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11th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Romanian Revolution through British Eyes/ Richard Morris: ‘Awakening Romania’
The calm before December 1989 is as memorable to me as experiencing the revolution itself. Roll back a year to November 1988 and my arrival in a city blanketed by ice, snow and grey slush. More horse and carts on the airport road than cars and an introduction to faded and frozen communist grandeur through […]
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11th December 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
What Advice Do Investors Get on Bulgaria?
As British Ambassador I am asked almost as often by Bulgarians what I say about their country to investors, as I am asked by investors what I think about Bulgaria. I answer the same to both: a wonderful country, with real potential and excellent people, but some big problems, particularly in the rule of law […]
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10th December 2014 Brasilia, Brazil
16 Days of Activism – A guest blog by Mariana Almeida
On November 25, 1960, three sisters were killed because they opposed the Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican’s Republic. The sisters grew up in a rural area and watched their family lose their house and all their money during the “Era of Trujillo”. Las Mariposas, as they were known, founded an opposition group to the […]
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