8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
15th July 2013 Kingston, Jamaica
Myths vs facts: Deportation
Deportation is a topic that evokes a great deal of emotion particularly in Jamaica. A common perception amongst the Jamaican population is that the UK deports large numbers back to the island. Many feel their deportation was not fair or justified. Although Jamaicans constitute the second highest number of foreign national offenders, Jamaicans do not feature in our […]
15th July 2013 Vientiane, Laos
Laos through my eyes – Kate Hall
I moved to Laos from the UK 6 months ago with my partner James. We both work in the travel industry and Laos offered us the opportunity to work in a location where tourism is still very much developing and arguably in its infancy.
15th July 2013 Budapest, Hungary
A once in a generation chance for jobs and growth
Guest blog by Senior Economic Officer Vilmos Frigyes Nagy Last week was indeed a special week. On Monday in Washington the EU and US started to negotiate the details of an extraordinary trade initiative. The short name is TTIP which stands for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. It has the potential to be the […]
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15th July 2013 Budapest, Hungary
Gay Pride Parade 5 July 2013
Guest blog by Director of British Council Hungary Simon Ingram-Hill Last Saturday was Gay Pride Parade, and the third I have now been on in Budapest. Quite why it is called a parade I am not sure, more of a stop-start amble but a lot of fun all the same. I was there to represent […]
15th July 2013 London, UK
EU enlargement – now for the next steps
It is now a fortnight since Croatia was officially welcomed into the European Union. The cafes are back to normal in Ban Jelacic Square, the firework smoke is long gone, and from now on I will be sitting down alongside twenty-seven, not twenty-six, other member states at the General Affairs Council.
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15th July 2013 Warsaw, Poland
Business is GREAT – Polish companies visit the UK and find a plethora of business opportunity in the UK’s automotive sector
The UK has a GREAT automotive sector. British engineering is at the heart of Formula 1 the leading global icon of motoring excellence and innovation. Over the last 10 years the automotive supply chain in Poland has flourished. Poland is now a well established partner in the UK’s global automotive supply chain. We thought the […]
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15th July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Why Britain likes Turkey – and links to third markets
Why does Britain like Turkey? Most of all, it’s because we want to have Turkey as a democratic, stable and prosperous partner. The more democratic, stable and prosperous Turkey becomes, the better for Britain. That’s partly because countries which embrace free markets and foreign investment are good trading partners, and trade makes everyone better-off. It’s […]
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12th July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Diplomacy and Faith
I spent part of this week in London looking at the interaction between diplomacy and faith. In particular, I attended one of the Foreign Office’s flagship series of debates, ‘The Jubilee Dialogues’, which bring together leading thinkers to discuss some of the major drivers behind transformation in societies across the world. The subject of the […]
12th July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Srebrenica: International justice: Coming of age?
On 11 July 1995 Bosnian Serb forces massacred 8000 Bosniak men and boys in what the UN had designated as the “safe area” of Srebrenica. The International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia ruled in 2004 that Srebrenica had been an act of genocide. My first job in the Foreign Office was as desk officer for […]
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12th July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Farewell to Mumbai (Part 1): Millionaires moving forward
The strongest impression on most overseas visitors to Mumbai are the contrasts: between the lavish apartment buildings and the slums around the airport, between the exotic stores selling $2000 saris and the street food vendors outside offering 10 rupee snacks, between the packed trains arriving in the mainline stations and the air-conditioned luxury cars cruising the streets. […]
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