3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
9th December 2019 Vienna, Austria
Liverpool-Salzburg crunch match – who’d have thought? Plus: travel advice
Austria has been awarded a fantastic early Christmas present on 10 December. At 1755 local time on Tuesday night Liverpool will visit to play Red Bull Salzburg in the final game of the Champions’ League group stage. Both teams need a result: if Liverpool lose they are likely to go out of the competition. If […]
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5th December 2019
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Woman’s Place is in the House… of Parliament
Along with many others across Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the UK Embassy is currently marking ’16 Days of Activism’ to combat violence against women. Why only 16 days, you might well ask, and what does this mean for the other 349? By giving this critical problem a defined period of focus, running from 25 November […]
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4th December 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Disarmament blog: Towards a World Free of Land Mines
The Norwegian capital Oslo is where, in September 1997, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) was concluded, and also where the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and its founder Jody Williams, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. So although the Convention is often known as the Ottawa Convention, after the city where […]
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3rd December 2019 Skopje, North Macedonia
Greening the Macedonian environmental behaviour: Let’s try a proven approach
It is that time of the year again. The air gets foggy and our vision blurry, but ironically, this is the time when we can clearly see (and smell) our most critical issue. According to the World Health Organization, around 2,574 deaths annually can be attributed to the air pollution. In addition, the World Bank […]
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28th November 2019 Juba, South Sudan
Floods in Pibor
Imagine you are living in a country that is facing a major humanitarian crisis and a civil war. And then it starts raining. Not for a day or two but solidly, for months. The town you are living in, with a population of around 40,000 people, is one of the poorest and most remote in […]
28th November 2019 Skopje, North Macedonia
Greening Western Balkans’ Environmental Behaviour
When it comes to tackling any of the environmental threats that humanity is faced with today, the first key challenge is to raise the awareness of the problem and the need for change of behaviour. This is a worldwide quest, and definitely not unique to the Western Balkan region. However, it is evident that Western […]
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28th November 2019 Auckland, New Zealand
Finding Pulsars: Radio Astronomy & Space science outreach in rural China
“The greatest danger facing us is ourselves, and irrational fear of the unknown. There is no such thing as the unknown. Only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.” If you can identify this quote and who said it then you have done well. If not you may be surprised. I’ll come back with an answer […]
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18th November 2019 Skopje, North Macedonia
Climate change and plastic free environments – we are all responsible to #ActGreen
Introduction by Her Majesty’s Ambassador Rachel Galloway, British Embassy Skopje: Climate change presents an existential risk to global prosperity & security, and I am proud that the UK are leading in the fight to protect our environment. This year, we have become one of the first major economies to commit to ending our contribution to […]
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4th November 2019 Vienna, Austria
British education: major visa reform for post-study visas
I commend a recent British Council blog, written by Education Director Maddalaine Ansell. Ms Ansell writes about the major reform to post-work study visas for international students which the UK Government has announced will enter into force from 2020. “From next year,” she writes, “students graduating from British higher education institutions with at least an […]
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31st October 2019 Vienna, Austria
The Government Art Collection in Vienna
The Duke of Wellington stares across the room towards a distant Queen Victoria, while Emperor Franz Josef – sash, ‘tache and all – observes impassively. Not the plot of a historical novel, but the paintings in the dining room at the ambassador’s residence in Vienna. Works from the Government Art Collection (GAC) are displayed in […]
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