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?
18th July 2019 Madrid
Digital Diplomacy – learning by doing
A few weeks ago I spoke to some FCO new entrants about social media and diplomacy. They were quite an intimidating audience not least since I assumed that most of them had already forgotten more about social media than I would ever learn. I explained how digital diplomacy had been perhaps the area of my […]
16th July 2019 Guatemala City, Guatemala
A nation of shopkeepers: Britain and trade
A nation of shopkeepers? So, allegedly, the French Emperor Napoleon referred to Britain in the late 18thcentury. Many have portrayed it as an insult. Actually, it is a statement of fact – Britain drew its power – then and now – from the power of trade and commerce, not from the extent of its lands […]
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16th July 2019 King Charles Street, London
Omic Studies : The Future of Medicine
Professor Graham Ball holds a chair in Bioinformatics at Nottingham Trent University and is Chief Scientific Officer at Intelligent OMICS Ltd, a company specialising in providing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning solutions to molecular biomedical problems. He has developed Insilico methods for the analysis of omics data, facilitating the discovery of diagnostic biomarkers, the modelling […]
16th July 2019 Beijing
London Tech Week: Tech for Good
I remember learning in history classes how the invention of the steam engine brought the world to the industrialisation of modern civilisation. But to think that I am witnessing another historic age where technologies drive the fourth Industrial Revolution. The fourth IR so far has been about how technologies are changing our lives. If you […]
16th July 2019 Tokyo, Japan
Japan in East Anglia
As an Ambassador, I enjoy occasionally getting the chance to visit different regions of the UK, and find out more about their links with Japan. This week I was in East Anglia. I began in Cambridge, calling on Professor Mickey Adolphson, the Head of the Japanese Department in the University’s Faculty of Asian and Middle […]
15th July 2019 Dublin, Ireland
Media freedom and the protection of female journalists online
Welcome to the first edition of my blog. I intend to use it to share both reflections on important policy issues and some more personal impressions from my experiences here in Dublin and right across the beautiful country of Ireland. Today, however, I would like to focus on the incredibly important topic of media freedom. […]
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15th July 2019
Becoming UK High Commissioner to Cyprus for a day
While gender equality is improving in Cyprus, there is still more to do. Women in leadership positions in particular remain few. To promote gender equality and female leadership, the British High Commissioner in Cyprus Stephen Lillie welcomed a 17 year old young woman, Danae Xanthi, to shadow him for a day on 24 June to […]
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11th July 2019 London, UK
Diplomacy has never been more relevant. Here’s why
Last year was the deadliest year on record for journalists. UNESCO records suggest that at least 99 journalists were killed, 348 imprisoned and 60 held hostage. That is why, this week, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has jointly hosted with the Canadian government a major international conference in London, putting media freedom at the forefront […]
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8th July 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
We all benefit when developing countries trade more
Last week, the UK joined countries from around the world at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) annual Aid for Trade Global Review, calling on our trading partners to help boost developing countries’ participation in the global trading system. Trade is a key driver of economic growth and can trigger positive changes in developing economies; helping […]
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8th July 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Integrating Conventional Arms Control with Peace, Security and Development
Virtually all peace, security and development goals are severely hampered in contexts where arms and ammunition are not effectively regulated. It sounds like a statement of the obvious, but conventional arms control is not well integrated with thinking and actions on conflict prevention and management. I noticed this when I moved from New York, where […]
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