9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
14th October 2025
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
26th February 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Consistory: Global and Local
If anyone doubts the global nature of the Roman Catholic Church, they had only to attend the Consistory on 22 and 23 February, when Pope Francis created 19 new Cardinals from the senior bishops around the world. The 16 ‘working’ Cardinals in Pope Francis’s first list now take their part amongst the 120 or so […]
25th February 2014 Jerusalem, Israel
Notice to readers
Dr Alastair McPhail CMG OBE was appointed Her Majesty’s British Consul General to Jerusalem in January 2014. We are currently updating these pages where he will soon begin blogging about his new post. Please keep an eye out for his first blog.
25th February 2014 London, UK
Economic reform in the Western Balkans
The Prime Ministers of all seven Western Balkan nations were in London yesterday seeking closer economic ties with countries across the EU. Speaking at a forum at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) for investment in the Western Balkans, Ken Clarke encouraged the PMs to put in place the necessary reforms to encourage […]
25th February 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Remembering the Holocaust
The usual approach of a blogger or commentator to a historical event is to look for modern-day comparisons; to use the event to support a link to a trend of interest or concern. But this approach cannot be adopted on the Holocaust. Because of its horrors, because of its sheer scale, there can be no […]
25th February 2014 Dushanbe, Tajikistan
7 reasons to visit Tajikistan
The following is a post by Shuhrat Sharipov, Communications Intern I have been working at the embassy for over two months on Communications and Digital Diplomacy. If you have been following UKinTajikistan’s Facebook and Twitter pages, you may have seen that we have been posting a lot about tourism lately. I think the development of […]
25th February 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Chancellor of the Exchequer in Sydney for G20
Australia’s presidency of G20 this year means we’ll have lots of senior visitors. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney were in Sydney this weekend for the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting. It brought together ministers and central bankers responsible for 85% of the world’s economy. Mr Osborne […]
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24th February 2014 Chicago, USA
Naked Science Diplomacy: UK Minister Visits Chicago
I guest-blogged over on The Naked Scientists’ site this month on the AAAS meeting and the visit of David Willetts, UK Minister for Universities and Science. Read it here.
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24th February 2014 Paris, France
Extraordinary events in Ukraine
The events in Ukraine over last week have been absolutely extraordinary, and they’ve made me think back to that period in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall, and the liberation of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
24th February 2014 Mumbai, India
Championing renewable energies at DAVV
Recently, I visited the School of Energy and Environmental Studies (SEES) at the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV), Indore, and met with the Head, Dr. S. P. Singh, who introduced me to the various renewable energy projects going on at the school. His research interests include solar passive buildings and energy systems, rural development: decentralised energy […]
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21st February 2014 Washington DC, USA
Global Forest Watch: Fighting Deforestation with Satellites, Open Data, and Crowdsourcing
Satellites, open data, crowdsourcing – these are some of the hottest buzzwords in the tech industry right now. But these innovations aren’t just limited to Silicon Valley and start-ups – they have come to dominate much of our everyday lives. Each time we open apps like Yelp and Foursquare to find the closest Starbucks or […]
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