3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
6th June 2014 Kingston, Jamaica
The Challenge of Change
Change is rarely easy. It challenges our normal basic human preference for continuity, for things to ‘remain the same’, to be predictable, to be stable. The psychology of change has been studied extensively and it is acknowledged that when change is enforced (and not desired) it is usual for people to go through ‘stages’ ranging […]
6th June 2014 Havana, Cuba
Let’s end this horror now
Before I joined the Foreign Office I spent many years working for humanitarian NGOs in central Africa – Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo – where I experienced first-hand the horrors of war and the devastation it can bring to communities, families and individuals. In those conflicts and others, one of the most […]
5th June 2014 Havana, Cuba
An Embassy for all of Cuba
Next week the British Embassy is moving. We’re off to Eastern Cuba for a full week of activities and meetings, events and project visits. Thirteen of us will travel, including staff from the Embassy’s consular, commercial and political sections and the Director of the British Council, Julian Baker. We’ll be visiting Holguin, Santiago and Guantanamo and […]
5th June 2014 Bucharest, Romania
Great Britons in Romania: Victor Watkins, Wildlife Advisor, World Society for the Prevention of Animals
Our new post in the ‘Great Britons in Romania’ is authored by Peter Thomas, the head of the political section in the embassy. The post is dedicated to a Briton who has made an important contribution to conserving Romania’s wildlife heritage. In May, I had the pleasure of representing the British Embassy at the official […]
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5th June 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Human Rights in Peace and Conflict
It’s not been a good couple of weeks for Sudan. The conviction of Meriam Ibrahim on charges of apostasy and adultery has caused outrage internationally. In Sudan everybody I’ve spoken to is thoroughly embarrassed by the case, expects it to be overturned on appeal and fervently hopes that happens sooner rather than later. They may […]
5th June 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Helping your business grow internationally
“The astonishing thing is that UKTI offers such a fantastic set of resources to help companies.” I’m at an export promotion event in the North of England. The speaker is a British exporter who has been working with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) for years. He is keen to persuade other British businesses to do […]
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5th June 2014 Mumbai
Sugar technology research at Vasantdada Sugar Institute
I often remember those days when I accompanied my grandparents to our sugarcane farm and wondered how do these tall sticks of cane become those lovely sugar crystals? Who does this magic? Well, my questions were answered recently when I visited the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) in Pune. I met the Director General, Shivajirao C. […]
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4th June 2014 Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Baroness Vivien Stern blogs about her fourth visit to Tajikistan
The following is a post by Baroness Vivien Stern. I am now back in the UK after my fourth visit to Tajikistan. This was the longest visit I have made – it lasted from 22 to 29 May – and also the hottest. The temperature reached 35 degrees on some of the days. It was also the […]
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4th June 2014 Warsaw, Poland
The Wensleydale Afternoon Tea at Warsaw’s Famous Bristol Hotel with His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex
Wensleydale cheese has a heritage that spans centuries, with its roots firmly set in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. First crafted in the 12th Century by a group of Cistercian monk settlers in Wensleydale, the art of Wensleydale cheese-making was perfected over time, and eventually found itself in the hands of local farmers’ wives. […]
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4th June 2014 Budapest, Hungary
How ‘smart’ do you think the UK is?
Guest blog by Kriszti Kocsis, Senior Policy Officer (Energy, Climate and Environment) at the British Embassy. Much more than most know. So I was glad to be able to publicise the UK’s smart credentials recently. But what are the smart grid and smart cities? Smart grids are the electricity transmission network enabled by digital technology for […]