Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

26th April 2013

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

35,000 silent mourners at ANZAC Day commemoration

The silence of 35,000 people gathered in pre-dawn darkness is a genuinely spine-tingling experience. Every year more and more Australians seem to want to turn out for what is both an annual commemoration of Australia’s war sacrifices and a proud expression of national identity. Before the service, Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, one of Australia’s four living […]

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25th April 2013 Houston, USA

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by Lauren George

Science and Innovation Officer

Out of the Lab and into the Living Room

Can you name a living scientist?  If you are reading this ‘Partners in Science’ blog, it is likely you can.  Unfortunately, a ‘Research! America’ survey conducted in 2011 says that only 34 per cent of Americans can actually name a living scientist.  As someone who works everyday with scientists who are doing some truly revolutionary […]

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25th April 2013 Washington DC, USA

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by Amy English

Congressional Liaison for the Foreign and Security Policy Group

Celebrating Happy Feet

Today, I dressed up in black and white in solidarity with my dearest feathered, slithery and loud-mouthed friends, Penguins. Today is World Penguin day (no offense taken if you were not informed), celebrating the many millions of happy-feet who accumulate impressive mileage swimming around the coldest parts of the southern hemisphere. I became a fan […]

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25th April 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

My CSCLeaders Conference Experience

In an earlier blog I described the Commonwealth as “the world’s first social network”, and Bruneians as amongst its most savvy practitioners. You’ll see what I mean in this guest blog by Helen Yeo, one of two professional Bruneian women who are representing the Sultanate in the CSCLeaders programme, in London, Manchester, Oxford, Mumbai – […]

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25th April 2013 Bucharest, Romania

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by Raluca Bragarea

Head of Communications, Bucharest

Focus group on Europe: the take from Chevening alumni

This afternoon I will be conducting a focus group with a number of Chevening alumni from a variety of professional backgrounds (press, law, trade, political) to discuss how they perceive UK as a partner in the EU. I look forward to a two-hour long discussion, and hope at the end of it we come up […]

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24th April 2013 British High Commission, Kingston, Jamaica

by Syranno Baines

Digital and Communications Officer

Locate and Engage …

Over the past few weeks, the British High Commission in Kingston Jamaica has done quite alot of work on Chevening Scholarships and with our Chevening Alumni. We are  in the very final stages of our 12 week “Chevening Alumni Location and Engagement Project”  for both Jamaica and the Bahamas, which saw us identifying, making contact […]

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24th April 2013

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

How Anglo is Australia?

This was the interesting title I was asked to talk about by the NSW Community Relations Commission. In Parramatta, unofficial capital of Sydney’s sprawling Western Suburbs, home to some 10% of Australia’s population and the heartland of the “new Australians”, I met young leaders from a range of different communities: Iraqi, Afghanistani, Indian, Coptic Christians […]

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