17th July 2025
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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
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 […]
6th August 2014 London, UK
Championing digital around the FCO
A key part of the FCO’s digital strategy is to build digital skills and knowledge across our network – over 13,000 people in nearly 270 offices around the world. In the Digital Transformation Unit we knew that we wouldn’t achieve this just with classroom training courses or lectures delivered in London, so we’ve taken an […]
6th August 2014 Kingston, Jamaica
One year later …..My Jamaica
As Jamaica celebrates her 52nd anniversary of independence on today , I would like to offer my congratulations, and say thanks for a remarkable and rewarding year working here so far. The UK/Jamaica relationship is a strong partnership. We cooperate in many areas . My continuing objective is to do more. I arrived just over a […]
6th August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Guest Blog: ‘No one is born educated’ by Richard O’Carroll
In this month’s slot, I am happy to host a blog written by Richard O’Carroll, who is a Teacher of English at the British Council Jordan. He speaks fluent Arabic and his interests are in helping learners communicate effectively in intercultural business contexts. ‘We have a saying in Arabic which means ‘no one is born […]
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5th August 2014 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Green Brunei at the Singapore Power Shift
Our guest blogger for this week is Khairunnisa Ash’ari who is the Community Engagement Director for Green Brunei. With the support of the British High Commission, Khairunnisa attended the Singapore Power Shift, a kickstarter workshop to build up climate change knowledge and learn how to run successful campaigns. “The biggest threat to climate change is inaction.” […]
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