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
6th March 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Modernisation and Energy Security
by guest blogger Baroness Verma This blogpost follows Baroness Verma’s official visit to Bulgaria, 3-5 March. It was also published in Standart newspaper. I am delighted that I had the chance to visit Bulgaria this week. As European partners, Bulgaria and the UK need to share ideas on the big challenges of our generation: ensuring energy security, tackling […]
6th March 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – INSPIRING CHANGE
Many people around the world will be celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March. The theme this year is “inspiring change”. I have met many women from across Sudan who are doing just that: inspiring change in business, in education, in civil society or in their local communities. There are many examples of the positive […]
Read more on INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – INSPIRING CHANGE | Reply
6th March 2014 London, UK
EU-Turkey: A symbiotic relationship
Thank you for all your kind comments about my first blog. What made this an eventful week? The Galatasaray-Chelsea match for one thing. It was great to work with our consular team supporting visiting Chelsea fans, including bizarrely a contingent from Mongolia. And what an atmosphere inside the ground! Some of the Chelsea board of […]
6th March 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
Council at a Crossroads
A lot has happened here since the end of the last session. Starting with the most important, I became a dad again, when my little girl entered the world last November. My son had cleverly timed his birth 3 years ago with the Human Rights Council’s annual day on the rights of the child but […]
6th March 2014 Warsaw, Poland
Lord Livingston’s Central European Diary – Day 4
Apart from being well-known for its science and innovaton centre, Brno’s got a GREAT racing circuit. The Czech Republic has got a GREAT and engineering heritage. Superb opportunity for Czech engineering companies to ge involved with our automotive sector supply chain. Automotive is booming in the UK. We’ve got a 4 billion gap in our […]
Read more on Lord Livingston’s Central European Diary – Day 4 | Reply
6th March 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Juggling the Legal Challenges, Securing TCI’s International Reputation
I was delighted to announce recently the appointment of Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles as TCI’s new Attorney General. I have worked closely with her ever since arriving here, and I am in no doubt Rhondalee will make a splendid AG. She was appointed because we considered her the best person for the job, and she was the […]
Read more on Juggling the Legal Challenges, Securing TCI’s International Reputation | Reply (1)
5th March 2014 Warsaw, Poland
Lord Livingston’s Central European Diary – Day 3
The Lord is really setting a hot pace on this 5 day CEE sprint. A GREAT Reception, GREAT Dinner, GREAT Photoshoot in Krakow’s main square and following a few hours’ sleep the Megamission is up at the crack of dawn and onto the Czech Republic. Destination Brno. Following a quick breakfast the Minister is off […]
Read more on Lord Livingston’s Central European Diary – Day 3 | Reply
5th March 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria
Being British Ambassador to Bulgaria in the 70s
by John Cloake John Cloake is a former British Ambassador to Bulgaria (1976-1980). When we invited him to contribute to the 100 Years UK in BG blog, he came back to us saying that he holds “many good memories of Bulgaria” and that has always thought that the British Ambassador’s Residence in Sofia was “the […]
Read more on Being British Ambassador to Bulgaria in the 70s | Reply (1)
5th March 2014 Warsaw, Poland
Say Cheese – Say St Duthac
Tain (Gaelic: Baile Dhubhthaich, Duthac’s town) is a former royal burgh of Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It is on the A9 road which links the south of Scotland with Caithness in the far north. Little is known of the earlier history of the town although it owed much of its importance to […]
5th March 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Worst Form of Government
Winston Churchill once said that: “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.” His cynicism was perhaps justified after the British people voted him out from his position as Prime Minister within months of winning the Second World War. Whether it is the worst form of […]