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Celebrating International Geodiversity Day 2024 – a guest blog by Professor David Drewry
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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Wearing Thin
2nd April 2019 Guatemala City, Guatemala
El Mirador trek: channelling your inner Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones made archaeology sexy. In the UK, though, it’s difficult to replicate that sense of adventure around archaeological digs. One of the most famous discoveries in recent years was that of the remains of King Richard III (died 1485) – he was found under a car park in Leicester. It somehow lacks the exoticism […]
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2nd April 2019 London,UK
Mad Day Out
This week is English Tourism Week, an annual celebration of the people, places and experiences which make holidays in England so great. I thought I would mark the occasion by blogging about my attempt to retrace an English journey which took place more than fifty years ago. The Beatles, the most famous band in the […]
2nd April 2019 King Charles Street, London
Tackling the Plastics Problem – SIN India
The input and build-up of plastic debris in our oceans is a major and increasing environmental problem. Plastics now comprise the majority of debris found in the sea, and are the most durable and persistent part of it. Estimates vary, but over 100 million tonnes of plastic may now be present in the oceans. While […]
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29th March 2019 Vienna, Austria
Vienna to Bratislava: a very British journey
What is British and travels from Vienna to Bratislava? The answer is the new “Twin City Liner”, a catamaran built by the Wight’s shipyard in the Isle of Wight, which starts a new service along the Danube between Vienna and Bratislava on 29 March. I was delighted to be invited before the launch of the […]
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29th March 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
New UK Report on Implementation of International Humanitarian Law
Here in Geneva yesterday we celebrated the publication earlier this month of the UK’s first ever report on national implementation of international humanitarian law (IHL). Alongside UK Ambassador Julian Braithwaite and Michael Meyer (Head of International Law at the British Red Cross), I spoke at a reception for IHL experts from permanent missions and international […]
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29th March 2019
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
You are not alone
Last week I visited Una-Sana Canton, to see first-hand some of the UK’s support work for local communities there. By chance, this coincided with the festival of Nowruz, so during my visit to one of the temporary accommodation facilities for migrant families, I was able to join their colourful, musical Persian New Year celebrations. In […]
28th March 2019 Skopje, North Macedonia
How well do you know your world?
This was the title of the presentation I had the pleasure to hear during my visit to Kumanovo this week during an English language class in one of their high schools. The theme of how well we know our world seemed to be the central topic of the hospitality I received during the visit. In […]
26th March 2019 Vienna, Austria
Water security, cancer and research in Austria
Could moves to “normalise” larger clothes sizes have a link to health risks such as cancer? And why should I travel to an 18th century Habsburg Palace to find out? 15 kilometres from Vienna is the beautiful Schloss Laxenburg, where the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA) carries out cutting-edge research on issues ranging […]
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25th March 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Fretful Felines at Forty
Last autumn, Pixie – our much loved cat (and subject of a 2015 blog trilogy) – fell seriously ill. After a week in pet hospital, the vets advised that she needed an urgent blood transfusion to survive. Except they didn’t have any cat blood in stock, so they asked if I could round up some […]
22nd March 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Disarmament blog: Looking back at the UK’s Conference on Disarmament Presidency
Four weeks ago, the UK assumed the rotating Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament. Today, we hand it over, with our best wishes, to the US. It’s been an intense four weeks. During the High Level Segment we heard from 30 Ministers over five plenary meetings. We presided over eight working formal and informal plenary […]
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