Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

21st October 2013 Brasilia, Brazil

by Thatyanne Gasparotto

Political Adviser

Climate Change: no more room for scepticism

Part of my role is dedicated to international negotiations on climate change, and the science used to feed the policy discussions has equal importance. That said, I have spent quite a lot of time over the past fortnight going through the findings of the first volume of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, published on 27 […]

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21st October 2013

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by Nick Bridge

Special Representative for Climate Change

Climate Change: The Road to Paris 2015

In November the next UN Conference of Parties on climate change (COP19) will meet in Warsaw. There is an enormous amount of work to do in Poland and subsequently if we are going to get a global, legally binding agreement on carbon emissions that we committed to achieve at COP21 in Paris in 2015. In […]

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21st October 2013

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor praises UK contribution to Australian economy

The success of the modern Australian economy reflects in part the legal and governance structures flowing from its British heritage, RBA Governor Glenn Stevens told the Australian British Chamber of Commerce at a packed Sydney lunch last week. In a fascinating speech the Governor outlined the history of the economic relationship between the two countries. He noted […]

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18th October 2013

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by Matt Field

British Diplomat

The future of cyberspace

This week sees the 2013 Seoul Conference on Cyberspace, the third in a series of conferences following London 2011 and Budapest 2012.  The Conference takes place in the context of a debate in Brazil and abroad about the future of the internet. Our Foreign Secretary has long been passionate about cyber (a broad term that […]

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18th October 2013 Budapest, Hungary

by Jonathan Knott

Former British ambassador to Hungary, Budapest

Did you know…?

Guest blog by Levente Nyitrai, Senior Policy Officer Did you know that 18 October 2013 is the 7th EU Anti-trafficking Day? Did you know that the UK is a signatory to, and has adopted, the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention against […]

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18th October 2013

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by Bruce Bucknell

Former British Deputy High Commissioner Kolkata

Stress

They could have gone better.  Despite taking exams for many years, I still managed to get irritated with myself.  I forgot a word that I had learnt only a week or so before.  I had let the stress of doing my Russian language exam get to me. I should have known better.  Just before my […]

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18th October 2013

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by Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

To regulate or not to regulate, that is the question …

Guest blog by the Embassy’s Economic Attaché. One thing we hear a lot about these days is regulation. Regulation this, regulation that, it can be good or bad, national or international, too much or not enough. Views may depend on where you stand: employer or employee, big multinational or local SME, left or right or […]

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17th October 2013 Ottawa, Canada

My Experience at the UKTI Global Graduate Entrepreneurs’ Festival

The following blog is by our guest blogger, Lorne Grant who recently won 1st place at the UKTI Global Graduate Entrepreneurs’ Festival . Lorne is the owner of the shipping service company, Latharn Ltd. My Experience at the UKTI Global Graduate Entrepreneurs’ Festival in Manchester, UK By Lorne Grant On September 4th, I left Fort […]

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