Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

1st April 2014 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

6th ASEAN Youth Forum and ASEAN People’s Forum

Our guest blogger today is Khairunnisa Ashari, who is the Head of International Relations, Brunei Youth Council. Recently, two other colleagues, Faizul H. Ibrahim and Rachel Lai were selected to attend the 6th ASEAN Youth Forum and ASEAN People’s Forum with her and this is what she has to say about their trips to Myanmar. […]

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1st April 2014

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

New Australian High Commissioner in London

The new Australian High Commissioner in London will be moving back into his teenage home when he takes up his position in May. Alexander Downer, whose appointment was announced yesterday, lived at the splendid official residence, Stoke Lodge near Hyde Park, when his father was High Commissioner in London from 1964-72. He went to school […]

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31st March 2014 Houston, USA

The UK harnessing science to “bounce back”

There is a certain buzzword that you hear a lot these days.  It’s tossed around by business executives, city managers, weather forecasters, even the odd politician. You feel you should be doing it, but you’re not sure how, or even what it means—resilience. What is resilience? Resilience is the ability to “bounce back” quickly from […]

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31st March 2014

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by Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

Decoding the English Language: Sense and Sensibility

When I was learning Swedish in London I studied in a language training centre, where post pupils were European business men and women seeking to improve their English. While I tried to do my Swedish homework, my thoughts often strayed to what I could overhear of the classes in the neighbouring rooms. Hearing the teachers […]

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31st March 2014 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

Coming to the surface

It’s hard to convey quite what it’s like to go through a March Council session. The four-week experience is a prolonged assault on the mind, body and soul and while the end of the session is a cause for elation it also feels distinctly post-traumatic. The process of stress-decompression and re-entering normal life needs to […]

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31st March 2014 London, UK

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by Richard Moore

FCO Political Director

A busy two weeks in Turkey

I was glad to get back home to Ankara on Saturday night, tired but happy, after two weeks on the road around Turkey. It had been a fascinating preceding fortnight. Perhaps you would allow me to share the highlights. The first of the two weeks was spent visiting our consulates around the coast in Antalya, […]

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31st March 2014 Vientiane, Laos

Philip Malone

by Philip Malone

Ambassador to Lao PDR

March 2014 Monthly Snapshot

March 2014 Follow our Embassy’s team through our activities during the past month! Visit to Vientiane Province Our Embassy team made first contact with government officials in Vientiane Province and visited the Nam Ngum 1 Hydropower Plant site. Lord Puttnam’s visit Lord David Puttnam, Oscar-winning film producer and the UK Prime Ministers Trade Envoy for […]

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29th March 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria

Reminiscences of Bulgaria's Commercial Scene in the 60s

by Bruce Beharell Bruce Beharell was a British businessman who spent a few years living and working in Bulgaria in the early 60s. He was the first commercial representative of a British company in Bulgaria after the WWII. “It was certainly a time in those early years of communism when you had to compartmentalise your brain […]

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