17th July 2025
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
15th July 2025
International Day of Women in Diplomacy: UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls visit to Geneva
1st May 2025
The UN Commission on the Status of Women: My first visit as UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls
28th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Ser o no ser
Viendo Hamlet a la sombra de las ruinas de Copan en Honduras o en la cima de una montaña sobre Antigua Guatemala es una maravillosa y extremadamente inusual experiencia. También se sintió bien haber tenido el tour de Shakespeare en el 450º aniversario de su nacimiento. Las reacciones locales para el tour mundial de 2 […]
28th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
To be or not to be
Watching Hamlet in the shadow of the ruins of Copan in Honduras or on the top of a hill above Antigua Guatemala is a wonderful, if extremely unusual, experience. It also felt good to be having a Shakespeare tour in the 450th anniversary of his birth. The local reactions to the Globe Theatre’s global 2 […]
28th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Fantastic prizes – fully-paid trips to London for entrepreneurs
I recently wrote about our quest to find the most brilliant Turkish entrepreneurs and invite them to visit London – at our expense. It’s an incredible offer. Round-trip tickets. Paid accommodation and meals. Guided tours. Visits to venture capitalists. To be honest, we copied it from our colleagues in the British Consulate-General in New York, who have […]
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27th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Beginning blogging again
I am starting to write a blog again after an absence of nearly 4 years. I used to write when I was Ambassador to Vietnam. Since then I moved to using Twitter (@KentBKK). Now I will try to juggle both. In this first post, I will try to give a bit of background about myself. […]
27th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
All in the family
As we look forward to the “new term” at the Vatican and at Westminster, it seems that the buzzword this autumn will be “family”. There is always a great deal of public discussion about the future of the family. Quite rightly, in my view, as it is arguably the most important social institution underpinning our […]
27th August 2014 London, UK
Consular appointments discovery – identifying user needs
Armed with the background data on who books appointments and how, in this post I’ll look at what we’ve learned about user needs and the improvements we would like to make in the new service. Over the past 2 to 3 years our consular teams around the world have gradually adopted a third party website […]
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27th August 2014 Mumbai, India
UK-India-Brazil-Africa discuss green chemistry for biofuels in Durban
It was the culmination of a 6-month long joint endeavour between the UK Science & Innovation network (S&IN) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) – a 2-day UK-India-Brazil-Africa programme on ‘green chemistry for sustainable production of biofuels’ held subsequent to the 5th IUPAC international conference on green chemistry, in Durban, South Africa. I partnered […]
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27th August 2014 New Delhi, India
Deputy Prime Minister announces new UK-India partnerships to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems
During a trade mission to India this week, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, announced a series of new partnerships between British and Indian scientists which will look to tackle some of the biggest issues facing the two countries. From vital health research to predicting the weather, the new partnerships will cement the position of […]
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26th August 2014 Toronto, Canada
Canadian science news: 18-24 August 2014
Trouble reading this story or moving through pages? Check it out on Storify here: https://storify.com/SINCanada/canadian-science-news-18-24-august-2014 [View the story ” Canadian science news: 18-24 August 2014″ on Storify]
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26th August 2014 New Delhi, India
2nd UK-India Task Force on Science & Innovation
A couple of weeks back I was lucky enough to be in London to enjoy some glorious English summer weather and, more importantly, participate in the second UK-India Science & Innovation Task Force meeting. Professor T K Chandrashekar, Secretary of India’s Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), led a high level Indian delegation to London for […]
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