9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
14th October 2025
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
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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12th May 2014 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Termez
I have visited Termez twice since the beginning of the year, once in February and then over a weekend in April. The first time was for business, meeting the regional Hokim, seeing the border crossing point where trains carrying ISAF equipment enter Uzbekistan, speaking to students at the University. The second time was private, so […]
12th May 2014 Gaborone, BotswanaLondon, UK
The role of a free and independent media in development
World Press Freedom Day took place on 3rd May. The theme for this year was Media Freedom for a better future: shaping the post-2015 development agenda. The focus this year, is on three inter-related themes: the media’s importance in development; the safety of journalists and the rule of law; and the sustainability and integrity of […]
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11th May 2014 Islamabad, Pakistan
Pakistan – A Prime Minister in London
A year ago today, Pakistan went to the polls to elect a new Government. Some 50 million Pakistanis turned out to vote. They made a statement about the future they want for their country – a future based on democracy and accountability through the ballot box. We went on to see the first ever full […]
9th May 2014 Toronto, Canada
Community wealth for public health
SIN Canada, in partnership with Prof. Cam Donaldson at Glasgow Caledonian University and the CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health, will be running a project this autumn on the effects of social enterprise on public health. A social enterprise is loosely defined as a business (either for-profit or not-for-profit) whose primary aim is to […]
9th May 2014 Pretoria, South Africa
South Africa’s politics and prosperity at a pivotal moment
As South Africans prepared to go to the polls Wednesday in the Republic’s fifth democratic national election since its first in 1994, I sat here in Chicago – 9,000 miles away and seven hours behind – keeping up with the news over a cup of tea and a heap of quickly-disappearing buttermilk rusks, South Africa’s crunchy pastry perfect […]
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9th May 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Two Elections, One Day, One Europe
Britain and Sweden see eye to eye on the implications of the Ukraine crisis. Here’s a translation of the article I wrote for Swedish national newspaper Dagens Industri today. In less than three weeks’ time, the people of Ukraine go to the polls in Presidential elections that will determine the future direction of their country. According […]