9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
14th October 2025
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
9th July 2013 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
"From Colony to Corner-Stone Investor"
I’m delighted that Simon Featherstone, the British High Commissioner, has agreed to write a guest blog on Prime Minister Najib’s groundbreaking(!) visit to the UK. It’s not often that you get a behind-the-scenes look at an occasion of this magnitude so please enjoy and feel free to post your thoughts or comments below. The work […]
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8th July 2013 Washington DC, USA
UK-US Service Personnel Task Force: A Personal View of the Past Two Months
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by the nation.” President George Washington, 1789. Judging by the amazing opportunities and activities of the last few months for […]
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8th July 2013 Lima, Peru
Global partnerships for global challenges
By Roger Gifford, Lord Mayor of the City of London, who will visit Peru on 10 July. – Article written for Peruvian newspaper “Gestión” I am looking forward to visiting Lima on 10 July because Peru is a country I hear being talked about increasingly often in the City of London. With good reason its […]
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8th July 2013 Toronto, Canada
Canadian science news: 1-7 July 2013
[View the story ” Canadian science news: 1-7 July 2013″ on Storify]
8th July 2013 Vientiane, Laos
Laos through my eyes – Paul Bloxham
I arrived in Laos as a Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) volunteer on 28 April 1997 thinking the 2 years I was planning on spending in the country would seem an eternity. Now, 16 years later I am just two days away from leaving Laos. It has been an eventful, sometimes frustrating and life changing experience but it is time to leave, although not forever as my wife is Lao so we will be back for sure.
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8th July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A great weekend for the Poms
There are not many weekends nowadays when I’m up until 2.00am two nights in a row. Well actually none. But this weekend was the exception, with the Lions/Wallabies end of tour party at Sydney’s Opera House and Andy Murray’s Wimbledon final. The Wallabies victory in Melbourne, levelling the series at 1:1, had set things up […]
5th July 2013 Athens, Greece
G8 priorities: what do you think?
At Lough Erne in Northern Ireland recently, leaders of the G8 discussed some of the fundamental questions facing our societies and economies. They came up with a short list of practical steps to take. Those steps are set out in a remarkably short and punchy declaration, which you can find here. Representing half of the […]
4th July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
INVESTING IN A LOW-CARBON ENERGY FUTURE
It was a delight, as always to be in Visby this week for Almedalen. I spoke at a seminar on the “Swedish super-model” and attended several interesting discussions on Europe, defence policy, Swedish politics and economics. Energy policy and climate change were also themes, as they are for the UK government. Like all EU partners, […]
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4th July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Modern Slavery: Church and State against Human Trafficking
Trafficking in human beings – for forced labour, for sex, for their organs – has been with us as long as one human has exploited another. That is no reason why we should resign ourselves to its existence in the 21st century. The British government sees tackling modern slavery as an important global priority. And yet, […]
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4th July 2013 New Delhi, India
Further funding for the Unbox Fellowships
Every time you sneeze, stop and consider what you are thinking about. This was one of the recommendations given during the Unbox festival in January this year. This festival showcased some of the best of India’s burgeoning design, art and technology sectors, including the findings from the Unbox fellowships, advertised in my earlier blog. The […]
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