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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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The climate crisis and gender-based violence
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Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
31st May 2013 Toronto, Canada
Minister Burt visits the Canadian Light Source
British Columbia and Saskatchewan got a visit last week from Alistair Burt, the UK’s Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (a broad remit, which covers North America). As part of a wide-ranging programme, the British delegation visited the Canadian Light Source for a tour and brief chat about engagement with the […]
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31st May 2013 Havana, Cuba
Starting the conversation
I’m the British Ambassador to Cuba and I’ve decided to start this blog. The idea is to write about the United Kingdom and Cuba, everything that joins them together and one or two things that separate them. Of course, the British Embassy in Havana already uses lots of digital platforms for communication – for example, […]
31st May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Guatemala: Open for Business
This is a guest blog by our Prosperity Officer, Héctor José Guatemala is currently hosting the Guatemala Investment Summit (GIS), and we had the pleasure of attending its inauguration yesterday. We were in good company! Guatemala’s President, Otto Perez Molina, Vice President, Roxana Baldetti, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fernando Carrera, several members of the Cabinet, […]
31st May 2013 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Guest Blog: Playing the ‘Cello with Uzbekistan’s State Conservatoire’
Last week the orchestra of the Tashkent Conservatoire performed an evening of British music, sponsored by mining company Rio Tinto. My colleague Lottie Waller joined the orchestra for the occasion, and blogs below about her experience. On 22 May I played the ‘cello in the student orchestra of Uzbekistan’s State Conservatoire, with around 75 of […]
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31st May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE: UK AMBITION FOR EU ACTION
During Sweden’s EU 2009 Presidency, the Union tried hard to lead international efforts to get a global climate change deal, culminating at the Copenhagen summit. It’s time to redouble our efforts and level of ambition as we look ahead to the Paris negotiations in 2015. As the climate talks in Durban in 2011 showed definitively, […]
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31st May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Lifestyle choices
New information and communications technologies (ICT) are changing the way we live and work. We can communicate instantaneously, find all sorts of information, and share ideas with others anywhere in the world. This transformation isn’t uniform across the world. Not everyone has reliable access to fast broadband let alone the internet, or wants to spend […]
30th May 2013 Chicago, USA
Big Science, Big Challenges
Big Science is expensive, and as justifying why tax dollars should pay for large scientific instruments is more difficult than ever. But Big Science is important and in these times of austerity, researchers and science leaders must do a better job of explaining how large scientific endeavours such as particle accelerators, massive light sources or […]
30th May 2013 Vancouver, Canada
Ministerial questions
Over the past few weeks I have been telling a lot of people that Minister Alistair Burt, from the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, is visiting Vancouver. He’s responsible for the UK’s relationship with Canada and much besides. This was big news for me, but it seemed to elicit one of three responses…
30th May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
TALKING EUROPE: FUN(NY) WAY TO SPEND A BIRTHDAY
I turned 45 yesterday and had planned a quiet day with my lovely wife and visiting mother. But when Patrick Sommerlath of Nobile invited me to debate the future of Europe with CNN’s Richard Quest, Ericsson’s CEO Hans Vestberg and Elizabeth Thand Ringqvist of Företagarna, with Per Schlingmann as moderator, I cast aside thoughts of […]
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29th May 2013 Kingston, Jamaica
Howzat!
Although I have yet to see the man in action, I have heard that Courtney Walsh has ‘probably bowled faster, for longer than any man in history’. His track record is clearly impressive, achieving 519 Test wickets and over 30,000 balls, and his role as an Ambassador for sport in Jamaica is highly deserved. Despite […]