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
22nd May 2014 Science and Innovation Network
Interview with Professor Jeremy Kilburn, Queen Mary University of London
I had a privilege to meet and interview Professor Jeremy Kilburn, Vice-Principal and Executive Dean (Science and Engineering) of Queen Mary University of London, while he was in New Delhi in March 2014. Professor Kiblburn is a recipient of Glaxo Award for Innovative Organic Chemistry in 1997, A Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow 2001-2003 and awarded […]
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21st May 2014 Dublin, Ireland
World War One – a sacrifice never to be forgotten
The fourth of August will mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War One. The world was a very different place with Poland not even on the map of Europe. A proud independent, free Poland only emerged from the ashes of the war. But that did not mean that the Great War, as […]
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20th May 2014 Brasilia, Brazil
International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
One thing is clear about Human Rights: they are universal. However, some of us suffer from a special kind of threat because of our sexual orientation or identity. The UK stands behind the idea that any form of discrimination is unacceptable – this means that rights are equal for all of us. Regarding civil rights, […]
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20th May 2014 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Environmental Economics
I visited the Banking and Finance Academy in the week of Earth Day to give a lecture about what the British Government is doing to make the UK economy greener – that is, more environmentally sustainable. Environmental economics is a fascinating subject. At the centre of it is the idea of “internalising externalities”. Market systems […]
20th May 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
“High Commissioner? But you’re just a boy.”
That’s what Lord Carrington said when we met in London last week. I must hang round with 94 year olds more often. It’s been a long time since anyone’s called me a boy. But to the former Foreign Secretary who is my most distinguished predecessor, and who arrived in Canberra as High Commissioner in the […]
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19th May 2014 London, UK
Digital diplomacy at the FCO Leadership Conference 2014
Last week saw our annual Leadership Conference when Ambassadors from around the world return to London to look at how the Foreign Office can deliver most effectively for British nationals. Like last year, the opportunities offered by digital to improve our work were a theme through the event. The week started with the Digital Transformation […]
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19th May 2014 Lima, Peru
A society without homophobia is better for all of us
By Ben Rawlings, Head of Economic & Sustainable Development at the British Embassy in Lima This 17 May marked the tenth anniversary of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. The aim is to draw attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the world. It is an initiative […]
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19th May 2014 London, UK
Remembrance on the way to the coffee shop (what connects IHRA and R2P?)
My department moved offices last week – from rooms “in need of modernisation” on the third floor of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, down to freshly refurbished accommodation on the grand first floor. We’re more densely packed down there (“warm-desking”), but morale is high and the coffee shop closer. My new route to mid-morning latte […]
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19th May 2014 Mumbai, India
UK-India workshop on distributed manufacturing
Next month, I will be leading a 5-member delegation of manufacturing experts from India to London to attend the UK-India workshop on distributed manufacturing on June 16. This event is being jointly organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Indian National Academy of Engineering with support from the UK Science and Innovation Network India […]
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16th May 2014 London, UK
What’s life like for Crimea’s Tatars now?
With the eyes of the world focused on events in south-east Ukraine, it would have been easy to miss what has been happening in Crimea in the weeks since its illegal annexation by the Russian Federation. Take the case of Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev. He has led an extraordinary life. He was exiled as […]
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