Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

Joseph Schumpeter’s concept of creative destruction describes perfectly the low carbon transformation of the energy system across Europe. Institutional frameworks and infrastructures are being disrupted as new clean energy innovations, business models and market players make inroads. Yet, the clean energy transition is not nearly moving fast enough for to meet the Paris agreement (much […]

The splendid Gothic structure of Westminster Abbey dominates the southern side of Parliament Square. The nineteenth-century reconstruction by Charles Barry of the Palace of Westminster, home of the houses of parliament, continues the Gothic theme along its eastern side. There is another point of commonality which unites the neighbours around the square: public service. To […]

Many Japanese don’t know much about Northern Ireland, although the recent media reporting on the “Irish backstop” issue has made them more aware that the island of Ireland is divided into Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland. Japan will shortly be welcoming teams from all the constituent elements […]

The Oxford Food Symposium has not always held an obvious link to foreign policy, but diplomacy was there at its conception. It was co-founded by a diplomat named Alan Davidson, whose Foreign Office career ended as Ambassador to Laos in the early 1970s. It was while on a posting to Tunisia that Davidson, frustrated at […]