Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

4th July 2013

Avatar photo

by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Arts and crafts

London’s Royal Academy will host the largest exhibition of Australian art ever to leave this country from 21 September to 8 December. It includes many of Australia’s finest historic and current works from the leading public institutions. I attended the media launch at the National Gallery in Canberra last week, and gave an interview to […]

Read more on Arts and crafts | Reply

3rd July 2013 London, UK

@UKintlaw – tweeting and engaging on international law

On 2 April the International Law Team at the British Embassy in The Hague launched a Twitter account dedicated to international law issues. @UKintlaw is the first government Twitter account set up to tweet and engage solely on matters of international law.  Its primary focus is on tweeting news arising out of events taking place within […]

Read more on @UKintlaw – tweeting and engaging on international law | Reply

3rd July 2013 London, UK

Avatar photo

by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Breaking the Sound Barrier with BEDB

First of all I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to the British High Commission to Brunei Darussalam for giving me the opportunity to post an article on the British High Commissions’ blog regarding my view on the Innovation Forum: UK-Southeast Asia Innovation, Design and Technology Forum which was held on Friday, 7th June 2013 in Singapore.

Read more on Breaking the Sound Barrier with BEDB | Reply

2nd July 2013 Kingston, Jamaica

by Julia Sutherland

Deputy High Commissioner, Jamaica

Scattering and Gathering: Thoughts on Diasporas

I’ve always liked the word ‘diaspora’, which comes  from Greek and means scattering or dispersion. Before I came to Jamaica I thought of the Diaspora as referring mainly to the worldwide Jewish community.  And indeed, that community is represented here, with its roots in the immigration from Europe of those forced to convert to Christianity […]

Read more on Scattering and Gathering: Thoughts on Diasporas | Reply (1)

2nd July 2013

Avatar photo

by Bruce Bucknell

Former British Deputy High Commissioner Kolkata

Homage to Orwell

I’ve discovered that I might have a tendency to “Gladwellian” prose, as practised by Malcolm Gladwell, a Canadian-British journalist who wrote “The Tipping Point”.  This is the reduction of complicated issues into simple terms. I came across the term while reading a critique of the “plain and clear language” of George Orwell in the New […]

Read more on Homage to Orwell | Reply (2)

2nd July 2013

Avatar photo

by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Shadow Foreign Secretary visits… in an interesting week in Canberra

Last week Shadow Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP, visited Australia as a guest of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Australian government arranged the programme for him, but we gave him an in-depth briefing at the High Commission, and I hosted a dinner to discuss foreign policy with MPs, officials […]

Read more on Shadow Foreign Secretary visits… in an interesting week in Canberra | Reply

1st July 2013 Harare, Zimbabwe

Catriona Laing

by Catriona Laing

British Ambassador to Zimbabwe

Prime Minister Cameron Praises the Achievements of Staff at the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT)

David Cameron visited the Helmand PRT on Saturday 29th June as part of a grueling three country tour also taking in Pakistan and Kazakhstan. His day in Afghanistan started at 06.30 at Camp Bastion, took in a Forward Operating Base just outside Lashkar Gah, a visit to Main Operating Base Lashkar Gar (where the PRT […]

Read more on Prime Minister Cameron Praises the Achievements of Staff at the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) | Reply (1)