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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
14th October 2025
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
11th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Sampling another side of life in Sudan
Over Eid, a small group of staff from the Embassy took the chance to escape Khartoum and sample life outside of the capital. Here’s their story – I hope you enjoy it: Eager to make the most of an extra few days off, we were determined to get beyond Khartoum and explore Sudan. With minimal […]
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11th August 2014 London, UK
Transforming the Chevening Scholarship application system
Hello there, I’m Phil Buckley, a Digital Transformation Manager at the Foreign Office. On 1 August we released a new application form for the Chevening scholarship programme and I wanted to tell you a little more about it. Why we had to change the system I mentioned in my post introducing Service Transformation at the […]
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11th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
We Need to Celebrate Ability and not Fear Disability
On 8 August, 11 young Bulgarians strode to the centre of Old Trafford cricket ground, during the lunch break of the game between England and India. In front of 25,000 people, they showed off their talents at this most English of games. I am sure it was an experience that none of them will ever […]
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8th August 2014 Toronto, Canada
Toronto dementia hackathon: 12-14 September
You may remember that back in March we mentioned an exciting hackathon event to build a software platform for the self- and community management of dementia. We can announce today that this event will take place over 12-14 September 2014 in Toronto, and 11, 13-14 September 2014 in London. Never shy of large or complex […]
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8th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Working to secure our borders through regional co-operation
Protecting our borders is one of the most important and difficult tasks we face. This is not something special to Turks and Caicos. Some of the other Caribbean Overseas Territories are challenged by Cuban and other migrants trying to reach their shores, while across Europe, including the UK, countries employ hundreds to safeguard their land […]
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8th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Pope Francis to visit South Korea
The following is a guest blog by Steve Townsend, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy to the Holy See On 14-18 August Pope Francis will make his first visit to Asia, to attend the Asian Youth Day in Daejon, South Korea. He will also beatify 124 martyrs, killed in the eighteenth century for […]
8th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Australia mourns MH17 victims
The official memorial service for the Australian victims of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy took place at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne yesterday. I sat with the Dutch and Malaysian ambassadors as we mourned this senseless loss of life. Australian leaders turned out in force to demonstrate the whole country’s support for the bereaved families. The […]
7th August 2014 London, UK
If Twitter had existed in 1914: tweeting a crisis
Diplomacy, and the Foreign Office, played a key role as events unfolded in the run-up to the First World War. For this reason FCO Historians wanted to mark the event but in an innovative way, and joined up with the Digital Team to use Twitter to take a fresh approach to telling a familiar story. […]
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7th August 2014 Bucharest, Romania
Great Britons: The best of Health
Our Charge d’Affaires a.i. Esther Blythe has been impressed with the city and county of Arad and the work done there by Dr Graham Giles. Read her account below. ‘Last week I met some amazing people in Arad County. We were celebrating the successful first stage of their project to bring equipment and expertise from […]
6th August 2014 Skopje, North Macedonia
Beauty is unity in diversity
Just in case you thought diversity was a modern obsession, peddled by management consultants and politically correct Human Resources teams, here’s a quote from John Scotus Eriugena, Irish philosopher who lived 1200 years ago: ‘Beauty is unity in diversity.’ It took me a while in my career to understand the value of diversity. I really […]