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
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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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
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
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 […]
28th April 2014 New Delhi, India
The year ahead
As regular readers of this blog will know, each year we run a number of events throughout the year to promote research and innovation collaboration between the UK and India. We fund these through the UK’s Global Partnership Fund – a pot of money administered by the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to […]
28th April 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Russia’s Actions Make the Case for a Western-facing Bulgaria
The Tsar Liberator faces the National Assembly. Newly cleaned, with touches of gold, the statue of the Tsar leading his troops in liberation of Bulgaria is impressive. But his watchful stance and position opposite parliament, the symbol of Bulgarian democracy, brings with it some ambiguity, brought into sharper focus by the situation in Ukraine. The […]
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27th April 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria
Integration
by Kris P Baykon Kris P Baykon is an ex-serviceman from the UK, who tried the 9-5 life for a few years and didn’t really like it. As a consequence he and his wife now live in rural Bulgaria. Kris runs a blog about his Bulgarian life. “The good news is that this village does feel like […]
26th April 2014 Sana’a, Yemen
Friends of Yemen: Getting by with a little help from my friends
At the Friends of Yemen meeting in London next week, Yemeni Ministers and their counterparts in the international community will meet to discuss Yemen’s progress in the three areas of security, politics and the economy. No lasting progress can be made against any one of these areas without progress in the others. Genuine peace and […]
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