Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

30th April 2014

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by Jonathan Allen

Former Ambassador to Bulgaria

The Architecture of How We Work

In recent weeks, I have walked into three very different sorts of buildings and had three very different sets of reactions. With Labour Day approaching, this has got me wondering: are buildings designed to have an impact on those that work in them, those that visit them, or both? Do people behave differently in a […]

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30th April 2014 Paris, France

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by Peter Ricketts

Ambassador to France from February 2012 to January 2016.

The UK Economic Recovery

This week I reflected for a French-speaking audience on the strong British economic recovery. The Chancellor, George Osborne, gave an interview to the French newspaper Les Echos on this subject, which was published today. Next Monday, I’ll be previewing a talk we’re organising here with Sir David Brailsford, head of Team Sky. Feel free to […]

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30th April 2014

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by Peter Millett

Ambassador to Libya, Tripoli

To Tweet or Not To Tweet

In 1805 it took over two weeks for news of the Royal Navy’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar to reach London. A ship had to be sent from the scene of the battle off the coast of Portugal to the nearest English port. An officer then had to take a horse-drawn carriage to London. […]

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29th April 2014

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by Sarah Dickson

Ambassador to Guatemala (June 2012 - June 2015)

Happy new Year! – in April?

Don’t worry we haven’t changed calendars, to join up with those parts of the world that have a Spring new year. Instead because the UK’s financial year runs from April to March, it feels very much like the start of a new year in the Embassy.  So we are busily checking our plans for the […]

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29th April 2014 Budapest, Hungary

by Jonathan Knott

Former British ambassador to Hungary, Budapest

The Last Train to Budapest: a movie about Britain and Hungary in 1956

Guest blog by Richard Pekár, author of the book The Last Train to Budapest, relating the story of his father, who took part in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, escaping to the UK in 1957. In order for the book to be turned into a movie, the filmmakers are now looking for sponsors, whose contributions would […]

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29th April 2014 Beirut, Lebanon

Tom Fletcher

by Tom Fletcher

Former British Ambassador to Lebanon

One Hundred Years On: Here’s to the Crazy Ones

This month, I attended the reopening of the Anglo-American Cemetery in Beirut, a century after its inauguration. This small corner of a foreign field in Furn el-Shubbak is the final resting place of a hundred or so explorers and pioneers who came to Lebanon in the 19th and early 20th centuries – missionaries, educationalists, relief […]

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28th April 2014 Brasilia, Brazil

Antarctica: where science collaboration really matters

Co-written by Dr. Caro Cowan, Director Science & Innovation. This week sees the start of the annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, which Brazil is hosting this year in Brasilia.   Signed 55 years ago, the Antarctic Treaty has been highly successful in its objectives to protect the environment of Antarctica, ensure peace, and encourage science.  The original […]

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28th April 2014 Lima, Peru

Pachacamac – a hidden world reveals its secrets

Guest blog by Dr Lawrence Owens Dr Lawrence Owens is sessional lecturer in bioarchaeology at Birkbeck College, University of London.  He has been involved in bioarchaeological projects for over 20 years, and currently works in Peru, Qatar and Egypt.  His co-edited volume – entitled Funerary Patterns and Models in the Ancient Andes: the Return of […]

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28th April 2014

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by Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

Remembrance and Reconciliation

Only the sound of birdsong broke the silence as we stood with our heads bowed. A gentle wind rustled the blossom in the trees on the hillside as a hundred people gathered to remember the sacrifice of the young men of Australia, New Zealand and Canada who fought and died for the freedom of Europe […]

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