8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
1st August 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
National identities
In my first few months here, I asked Belarusian interlocutors about Belarusian national identity. I received a variety of replies, but the subject was of more interest to me than to them. That’s changed recently as events in Ukraine have stirred a debate on the issue. I am intrigued by national identity. I first came […]
31st July 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
NSW Premier says economic ties with UK strong and growing
New South Wales Premier Mike Baird, almost exactly 100 days in office, addressed an Australian British Chamber of Commerce lunch in Sydney yesterday. He described the state’s trade and investment links with Britain as large and growing, something he is keen to continue. British companies are major investors in NSW; many of them were represented […]
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30th July 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Human trafficking: responding to the Pope’s appeal
In my last blog posting on the concept of “the common good”, I noted that the Archbishop of Canterbury had included UK efforts to tackle human trafficking as one of three specific areas in which, in his view, Her Majesty’s Government was working for the common good. 30 July is the UN World Day against […]
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30th July 2014 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Siberia Challenge
Last Thursday I met a team of intrepid Brits who are driving from the westernmost point reachable by road in Europe – in the Dingle peninsula in the West of Ireland – to Magadan in the far East of Russia. They had just spent several days driving through Uzbekistan, having gone north from Ashgabat and […]
30th July 2014 Mumbai, India
The uninvited bacteria!
In 1928 the world celebrated the invention of penicillin by the British scientist Alexander Fleming and rightly so, as it brought about a revolution in the field of medicine and enabled treating life-threatening diseases like pneumococcal pneumonia, meningitis, etc. Unfortunately today, with growing strains of bacteria that have developed resistance to antibiotics, the world once […]
30th July 2014 Bangalore, India
Anti-microbial resistance research at JNCASR
Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) is a huge concern globally and the day when common ailments and minor injuries can kill someone is not far away. The recent WHO report (AMR Global Report on Surveillance) also provides data on the very high rates of resistance in common bacteria such as E.coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. These […]
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29th July 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria
Bulgaria – Our Good Fortune
by Peter Lyner OBE After three challenging years in Moscow, in 1987 Peter Lyner was appointed Cultural Attaché in Bulgaria and British Council Bulgaria officer. Peter and his wife expected their life in Sofia to be similar to the one they had in Moscow but were proven wrong. Trips across Bulgaria and in the neighbouring countries, Bulgarian fine […]
29th July 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Opportunity for change…
#Retrak is a #UK-based #charity which enables street children in Africa to realise their potential and discover their worth. It’s been operating since 1994 (when it was just a football club in #Uganda) and now offers a wide range of services to street children in #Ethiopia, #Kenya, #Malawi, #Tanzania and #Uganda. It has also helped […]
28th July 2014 Montreal, Canada
Geeky Farmers – The Agriculture of the Future
What if you could control your backyard smallholding (“potage”) sitting on your couch? This is indeed feasible! Last week the Science and Innovation Network in Montreal teamed up with Prof. Viacheslav (Slava) Adamchuk from McGill University and organized the first UK-Canada Workshop in Precise Farming. The farming landscape has changed significantly, and entered a new […]
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28th July 2014 Dublin, Ireland
UK and Poland: strong collaboration in the past and present times
On 4th July we celebrated some remarkable Polish, French and British individuals and some equally remarkable trilateral collaboration between our three countries. Breaking the Enigma code undoubtedly saved thousands of lives and shortened the war. And the Polish contribution was crucial. The history of how Enigma came to be broken has been shrouded in mystery. […]
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