8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
25th November 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Fighting Violence Against Women
One in every three women in the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to the UN. Violence against women is a human rights violation and a crime. It is a result of discrimination against women and an effort to entrench persisting inequalities between men and women. It […]
25th November 2013 Tunis, Tunisia
Focusing on developing future ties between UK and Tunisia
Below is a transcript of my first video blog. You can view my video by visiting our Facebook page. Assalamu Alaikom! I am pleased to be here in green Tunisia. It is such a privilege to be here in such an important time of Tunisia’s history. Britain and Tunisia share a long history. On the wall […]
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25th November 2013 New Delhi, India
UK and India collaborate to innovate
George Bernard Shaw said “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples, each of us has one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange ideas, we each have two ideas.” The sharing of ideas is essential for any knowledge economy. India […]
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25th November 2013 Chennai, India
Anniversaries: From India to Dallas to Istanbul
It feels as if it’s been a month of anniversaries, some happy, some sad. On the positive side, we celebrated the Prince of Wales’ 65th birthday in Kerala – a date which, as he said, he proudly shares with Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. On Friday, I was asked to open the 2013 Cultural Festival for the […]
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22nd November 2013 New York, USA
Doctor Who: Child of the Enlightenment
This weekend Doctor Who celebrates his fiftieth birthday. “Ha!” cries my nine-year-old self. “Any Whovian can tell you that he’s actually somewhere between 900 and 1200 years old!” Current Who writer-in-chief Steven Moffat maintains that the Doctor probably lies when asked about his age. At any rate, 23 November marks fifty years since the show […]
22nd November 2013 Brasilia, Brazil
COP-19: nearly the end but running into overtime
This week Ministers and other authorities joined the nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-19) here in Warsaw. During the High-Level Segment, opened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban-Ki Moon, Ministers and representatives from member countries made their statements which set out their expectations for Warsaw, Lima and Paris. In his speech, the Secretary […]
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22nd November 2013 Kingston, Jamaica
What are Embassies for Anyway?
I was very interested to see a letter last month in The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper with the above title, expressing confusion and scepticism as to the purpose of Embassies. Given that I work in one (a High Commission is just the name for an Embassy between Commonwealth Countries), this set me thinking. I love my […]
22nd November 2013 London, UK
Digital Diplomacy in El Salvador
Within the context of a globalized environment, each institution, whether public or private, needs to take the maximum advantage of social media channels, which usually include very low costs and have a wide range of coverage. In an embassy like ours in San Salvador, the digital work and maximization of resources takes great relevance because […]
22nd November 2013 Athens, Greece
Countdown to the Greek Presidency of the European Union
On New Year’s Day 2014, Greece will pick up the Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, and run with it for six months. The last time Greece presided was 2003. That Presidency broke new ground: it created a new vision and new prospects for EU enlargement in the Western Balkans, and, at the same […]
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22nd November 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Full access and full choice
Last July, London hosted the historic 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, which reestablished family planning as a top global health priority. Last week 3000 advocates, researchers, health professionals and political leaders from over 100 countries came to Addis Ababa for the third International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP). The theme was “Full Access, Full […]