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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
12th November 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Catholic Church, the UK and the fight against Ebola
The following is a guest blog by Steve Townsend, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy to the Holy See The Ebola virus spread quickly through Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, with over 13,000 deaths so far. The disease has made the front pages across the globe, provoking concern, offers of assistance, and in […]
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12th November 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Every girl is born “Saleema”. Let every girl grow “Saleema”
A few days ago I went to an inspirational event. It was the launch of the Saleema Regional Forum. Saleema (which means intact, whole, as created by God) is the Sudanese campaign to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The event was packed with committed, energetic women. Prominent among them were Dr Samira Amin Ahmed, who […]
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12th November 2014 Hanoi, Vietnam
Lighting a Fire
In his essay “On Listening”, the ancient Greek writer Plutarch said about the process of education: “The mind does not require filling like a bottle. Rather, like wood, it only requires kindling, to create in it an impulse to think independently and an ardent desire for the truth.” I came across this quote when I […]
12th November 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Trashy Stories
Walking down from the Citadel to the centre of Amman a few weeks ago, we saw three boys sitting by the steps. I was showing some guests around, tourists from Britain. The boys were about 7 – 8 years old and were eating crisps and drinking juice, watching people climbing and descending the stairs that […]
12th November 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Honouring the dead
Remembrance week is always a poignant time of year for me, as someone who has spent most of their career supporting the UK’s Armed Forces on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who have died – friends or strangers – and the families that they left behind are never far from my thoughts. On Sunday, […]
11th November 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Bright sunshine for Remembrance Day at the Australian War Memorial
The sun shone brightly on Canberra’s national war memorial on Remembrance Day, which Australia celebrates actually on 11 November, rather than on the nearest Sunday as in the UK. Wreaths were laid by the Governor General; Senator Ronaldson (for the Prime Minister who is overseas) and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and senior parliamentary, military and veteran […]
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11th November 2014 Budapest, Hungary
Remembrance Day 2014
I’ve blogged before about Remembrance Day: the day when we in the UK remember those who have died defending our country and our values. Every year at this time we honour and remember them and their sacrifice. But this year our commemoration has been particularly poignant since 2014 is the centenary of the start of […]
11th November 2014 London, UK
Further adventures testing the Chevening application system
Some beautiful photos from the latest round of Chevening user testing, and what we learned from the latest cohort of scholars On Saturday 25 October, the latest cohort of Chevening scholars were invited to an orientation event: a day’s activities welcoming them to the UK and helping them settle in. At the end of the […]
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11th November 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Increasing Our Security in an Increasingly Insecure World
Europe is surrounded by an “arc of instability”, in the words of Philip Hammond, the British Foreign Secretary. Bulgaria, responsible for one of the EU’s key external borders, and on the land route to Syria, is in a key position. It is vital that we, Bulgaria’s allies, step up our support. It is just as […]
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11th November 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Prosecutor General Visits London
By guest blogger Sarah Riley, Deputy Head of Mission at British Embassy Sofia. This blogpost follows Bulgarian Prosecutor General’s visit to the UK from 4 to 7 November 2014. Last week I spent two days in London with Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov, on his official visit to look at all aspects of the criminal […]