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?
28th October 2013 Bangalore, India
Digital innovations in Healthcare
We had the pleasure of working with Accelerator India, C-CAMP and the Electronics, Sensors and Photonics Knowledge Transfer Network on a workshop in Bangalore on Digital Innovations in Healthcare. We considered this an area of great potential for future UK-India collaborations. It may also be an area where companies in both countries could bid into […]
28th October 2013 Vientiane, Laos
Laos through my eyes – Ivan Scholte
This article is part of a series of guest blogs contributed by Brits who have lived and worked in Laos, or who have other interesting links to Laos. Answered prayers Seventeen years ago I came on holiday to Laos and fell in love, not with my then girlfriend, but with the unspoilt beauty of Luang […]
28th October 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Voluntarism and Happiness
Describing happiness is difficult and attaining it is elusive. But I tend to agree with Albert Schweitzer, who once commented to a group of volunteers that “The only ones among you who will really be happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” Every 6 months or so, I meet a new […]
25th October 2013 Washington DC, USA
Souper Man – My Day at the Empty Bowls Fundraiser
The following is a guest post by Craig Harnden, Head Chef, British Embassy. Earlier this week , I had the opportunity to represent the British Embassy at the Capital Area Food Bank’s 6th Annual ‘Empty Bowls’ fundraiser for hunger relief in the Washington area. Empty Bowls is a unique event that brings local restaurants, and […]
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25th October 2013 Havana, Cuba
Hurricane Sandy – one year later
This week marks the one year anniversary since Hurricane Sandy swept through eastern Cuba, destroying homes and crops, damaging schools and health clinics, leaving eleven people dead and thousands of people homeless. In the early hours of October 25th the hurricane swept over Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin before continuing northwards and towards New York. […]
25th October 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
UK Parliament comes to the Holy See
One intangible measure of the strength of a bilateral relationship is how far relations go beyond strict government to government formalities. Relations between the United Kingdom and the Holy See received a boost this week with a visit by 12 members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See (APPG for short). The […]
25th October 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
70 years on
I hadn’t realised, but I’d passed the site many times before. It’s hidden on the side of a slope at a road junction. The memorial is in a pit where 5,000 Jewish prisoners were shot on 2nd March 1942. This week was the 70th anniversary of the liquidation of the Minsk Ghetto, and the pit […]
25th October 2013 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
My Chevening Adventure
Fatin Arifin is the recipient of the 2013/14 Chevening Scholarship in Brunei. She is currently studying MSc Emerging Economies & International Development at King’s College London. “You are provisionally selected as our Chevening candidate for 2013/14!” From receiving that email in the first week of May to leaving in September, everything in between was pretty […]
24th October 2013 Washington DC, USA
The UN: A Revolutionary Idea with a Big Role to Play Today
As the deadliest war in history was coming to an end in 1945, the international community began to envision ways to maintain peace and prevent another global conflict. This led to the adoption of UN Charter, the founding document of the United Nations, and the creation of the United Nations 68 years ago today. After […]
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24th October 2013 Brasilia, Brazil
UNSC says: get women involved!
Women are 50% of the population, 50% of the policy beneficiaries, and 90% of the casualties from armed conflict are civilian women and children; why not make them 50% of the decision making and peacekeeping processes? In the UK, women are 51% of the population, but only 22% of our parliamentary representatives, 23% of our […]