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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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17th December 2025
MAKING LIFE SAFER, FOR EVERYONE
9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
30th April 2014 Washington DC, USA
Women boost the world economy
At the end of March I joined other members of the British Embassy in American University’s Race to Representation, a 5k run organised by the Women and Politics Institute in Washington. The annual race (now in its third year) helps raise awareness of the gender gap in political leadership in the US, while the mission […]
30th April 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Britain and Ireland together at the Holy See
It has been an extraordinary few years for the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland. When Prime Minister David Cameron and Taoiseach Enda Kenny met in London in March, they commented that relations between our two countries had never been better. That’s a bold statement to make. And yet it was confirmed earlier this […]
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30th April 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
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 […]
30th April 2014 Paris, France
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 […]
30th April 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
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. […]
29th April 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
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 […]
29th April 2014 Toronto, Canada
Canadian science news: 21-27 April 2014
Trouble reading this story or moving through pages? Check it out on Storify here: https://storify.com/SINCanada/canadian-science-news-21-27-april-2014 [View the story ” Canadian science news: 21-27 April 2014″ on Storify]
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29th April 2014 Budapest, Hungary
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
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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