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
16th May 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria
Strange Old World
by Lynn Bailie Lynn Bailie originates from Sunderland in the North East of England. She lives with her husband and son in a village near Burgas. Five years after buying a house in Bulgaria they moved to Bulgaria permanently. “That’s the way people do things here. Everyone who gave up their time to help were […]
16th May 2014 London, UKMadrid, Spain
17 May is IDAHOT: the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
It’s an important day for the British Government. We are working hard to uphold the rights and freedoms of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities across the world. We believe that countries must work together to address all forms of discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and to promote […]
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16th May 2014 Cape Town, South Africa
International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO)
Guest blogger Andrew Carter: 17 May is an important date in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) calendar – a time for people around the world to celebrate sexual and gender diversities, and say ‘no’ to homophobic and transphobic discrimination, prejudice and violence. Working in South Africa, I am hugely impressed by the progressive constitution […]
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15th May 2014 Washington DC, USA
Making trade personal
May is World Trade Month: a time to recognize the benefits of international trade and its impact on our everyday lives. That got me thinking about my own personal history and how it has been shaped and moulded by international trade. My grandfather first came to Pennsylvania from England as a child refugee of WWII. […]
15th May 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Climate Change and the Holy See
The following is a guest blog by Steve Townsend, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy to the Holy See. A high-level group of scientists and social scientists gathered together in early May in the Vatican, to discuss “Sustainable Humanity, Sustainable Nature: Our Responsibility”. The aim of the conference was to bring both disciplines […]
14th May 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Leadership: Delegate or Die
We all face information-overload. How can the leaders of organisations cope with the mass of emails, phone calls, meetings, video-conferences and other demands on their time? And how can we manage our time while also making sure that we deliver results? The answer is through delegation: by pushing decision-making and implementation down to people who […]
13th May 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria
Living in the Boyana Compound in the Early 90’s
by David Stokes David Stokes was Director of British Council Bulgaria from 1991 to 1997. He was the first British diplomat to stay in a Bulgarian family whilst learning the language. David was also asked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to “run the British Council as if it was in Western Europe’”. David and his wife Pepy […]
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13th May 2014 Sana’a, Yemen
Implementation: a Recipe for Success
The thirty-nine members of the Friends of Yemen (FoY) met at the end of April in London for the seventh time in four years. The meeting was not about giving more money to Yemen – there’s still $5.1bn of the pledged $8bn to hand out. Instead, it was about how we – the Government of […]
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12th May 2014 Mumbai, India
Innovative CSMCRI
Recently, I visited the CSIR-Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar, Gujarat along with Dr. Philip Earis from the Royal Society of Chemistry. The CSMCRI used to be the erstwhile Central Salt Research Institute, which was inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1954. It’s been nearly 60 years and the institute is […]
12th May 2014 Mumbai, India
Environmental Science and Engineering at NEERI
Previously, when anyone mentioned Nagpur to me, I’d immediately think of oranges, searing summer heat (> 40 °C), and Haldiram’s! Well, I’ll now include another item to that list – environmental research! Last month, I went to Nagpur along with Dr. Philip Earis from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) to visit the National Environmental […]
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