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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 June 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The G8 – scaling up nutrition, the Guatemalan experience
On 8 June the UK hosted a meeting in London, in the context of its presidency of the G8, to discuss nutrition and food security. The Guatemalan Vice President, Roxana Baldetti participated to talk about Guatemala’s experience. Guatemala is no stranger to the challenges presented by malnutrition, under nutrition and food security. The UN index […]
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10th June 2013 Washington DC, USA
Keep Proud and Carry On
I participated in my first LGBT Pride when I was about 22. I’d just come out, and I stood nervously on a London street with my friend, watching bright and colourful Pride floats filled with people pass. I gazed shyly at those participating, admiring how they were so comfortable and proud about who they were. I […]
10th June 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Pope and PM against Famine and Hunger
Last week I wrote about plans for sustaining global momentum on development and against poverty after 2015. 2015 feels a long way away. And yet in the last few days we have seen, very practically, how government, civil society and faith can come together to make a difference now. Speaking on 5 June, Pope Francis […]
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10th June 2013 Warsaw, Poland
Did you know just how easy it is to sell GREAT British Food and Drink to Poland?
There’s lots of people who ask me where can I get a good range of British food and drink brands in Poland. The answer has always been – well nowhere really, unless you want to have a quick look in a range of supermarkets or the odd online shop or deli. You know we’ve fallen […]
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10th June 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
Let there be light
Week two of the June session is never much fun. The end is just a bit too far from sight, there’s a huge amount of fiddly sorting out still to do and almost everyone is in a ratty mood from having spent too much time together. Tempers tend to reach optimal fraying point at about […]
7th June 2013 Los Angeles, USA
Efforts in the Global Mapping of Carbon Emissions
The Los Angeles S&I team recently visited NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to meet the Megacities Carbon Project team. The MCP is designed to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in urban areas, starting with Los Angeles (LA). CLARS, a laboratory housing remote-sensing instruments built by JPL researchers, sits atop of Mount Wilson, where it samples […]
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7th June 2013 Harare, Zimbabwe
A Generational Change Plays Out as Women in Helmand Register to Vote in Local Elections
I attend many public gatherings known as ‘shuras’ in Helmand. The one I was invited to address on Monday was however different in that it was for women and run by women. I came away feeling we had reached a really important milestone in the tough journey women face in Helmand. The aim of this […]
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7th June 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Breaking down barriers through sport
Last week UK company G4S (possibly the biggest employer in Africa) gathered seven young athletes from around the world (Bangladesh, Botswana, India, Kenya, Peru, South Africa and The Philippines) at the British Residence in Addis Ababa. They were part of the “G4S 4teen” programme, which has supported 14 extremely talented young athletes towards their sporting […]
7th June 2013 London, UK
Digital Diplomacy Could be the Future for Governments | HootSuite
HootSuite discuss social media strategies in government on their blog, following the visit of Alistair Burt MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) in May: As members of the media are taking to social media channels to deliver important news in real time, a growing number of governments (from municipal to federal) […]
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6th June 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
El café es la droga de mi preferencia – parece que la OEA está de acuerdo
Recién he regresado del Reino Unido y he visto café por todos lados. No estoy diciendo que los británicos han dejado de amar el té, pero las cafeterías están por doquier en el Reino Unido. Una de ellas está promoviendo el café guatemalteco de la ciudad de Antigua Guatemala. A mi regreso a Guatemala, es […]
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