17th July 2025
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
15th July 2025
International Day of Women in Diplomacy: UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls visit to Geneva
1st May 2025
The UN Commission on the Status of Women: My first visit as UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls
10th October 2013 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
The Queen’s Baton on its way to Brunei
Yesterday, I watched snippets from Buckingham Palace of the launch of The Queen’s Baton Relay on the news. This is a much enjoyed tradition in the run up to every Commonwealth Games where Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II places inside the baton a message to the Commonwealth. The baton will now travel 190,000 kilometres to […]
9th October 2013 Cape Town, South Africa
World Day against the Death Penalty
10 October is World Day against the Death Penalty. Since 2003, people all over the world have, on this day, been making clear their opposition to this form of punishment. Like many people who live in countries which, like South Africa and the UK, have abolished the death penalty, I don’t actually think about it that often.
9th October 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Protect Life: End the Death Penalty
10 October is the 11th World Day against the Death Penalty. The campaign represents an alliance of 145 NGOs, bar associations, unions and other bodies – including Catholic organisations like the Community of Sant’Egidio – that was set up in Rome on 13 May 2002.The United Kingdom, which supports its work, campaigns for worldwide abolition […]
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9th October 2013 New Delhi, India
Nobel Pursuit of the Higgs Boson
Yesterday the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Professor Peter Higgs from the University of Edinburgh and Professor François Englert from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. It was awarded for their work , in the 1960s, predicting the existence of the Higgs Boson. I’m not a physicist, so if you want to know […]
9th October 2013 Toronto, Canada
Canadian science news: 30 September-6 October 2013
[View the story “Canadian science news: 30 September-6 October 2013” on Storify]
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9th October 2013 Beirut, Lebanon
Lebanon: Optimists, Pessimists and Realists
A former British Ambassador here was asked at the end of a radio interview what he would like for Christmas. Thinking it typical Lebanese generosity but not wanting to be too greedy, he gave a modest reply. Listening to the broadcast later, he was shocked to hear several envoys asked the same question. The US […]
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8th October 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
EXPECTING THE UNEXPECT-ABLE
The work of diplomats, and Embassies, can often seem very cerebral and detached. But as our colleagues in Nairobi recently experienced, it can also be very practical and traumatic. Last week, along with colleagues across Brazil, we’ve been looking at our crisis plans. These are the preparations we make for the kinds of terrible incidents […]
8th October 2013 Toronto, Canada
The UK’s 120th Nobel Prize: The Higgs Boson
On 8 October 2013, Prof. Peter Higgs of the University of Edinburgh and Prof. François Englert of the Université libre de Bruxelles were awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed […]
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7th October 2013 Toronto, Canada
World Space Week 2013: Exploring Mars, Discovering Earth
The theme of World Space Week 2013 is “Exploring Mars, Discovering Earth”. With more attention than ever on the Red Planet (so-called due to the high levels of reddish iron oxide in its soil) and human missions set to visit from 2018, the time is right to take a closer look at Mars – and […]
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7th October 2013 Vientiane, Laos
Laos through my eyes – Johnny Johnson
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. Having been in Laos over 47 years, both before, during & after the Revolution in ’75, I suppose I must be one of the oldest residents still around in […]