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7th March 2013 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
International Women’s Day
This Friday, 8 March, is International Women’s Day. The Embassy will be closed for the holiday, so we are celebrating today, on Thursday 7 March. The men in the Embassy are bringing flowers and cake for the women. I’ve been out negotiating the purchase of eighteen bouquets (as with St Valentine’s Day, it seems the […]
7th March 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Falklands referendum, 10-11 March
In June 2012 the Falkland Islands announced their intention to hold a referendum in order to give the Falkland Islanders their say on the future. The referendum will take place on 10-11 March. Some background is here, including the full question which will be put (which includes the notably clear text: Do you wish the […]
6th March 2013 Ottawa, Canada
Breaking the traditional mould
Outside my office there is a wall of portraits of previous British High Commissioners to Canada. I call it, with just a hint of a smile, the “wall of diversity”. As you can imagine, the portraits are all of white men of a certain age…
6th March 2013 Nairobi, Kenya
From the Olympic village to Somalia – FCO women’s stories
In the lead up to International Women’s Day on Friday, we are featuring the stories of women who work for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as guest posts across the FCO bloggers’ network. Jane Stevens and Tracey McLelland are a successful job sharing duo who are part of the communications team working on the upcoming […]
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6th March 2013 London, UK
Switching night and day – life in the Global Response Centre
In the lead up to International Women’s Day on Friday, we are featuring the stories of women who work for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as guest articles across the FCO bloggers’ network. Carole Johnson is a Team Leader in the FCO’s Global Response Centre (GRC). It operates around the clock, 365 days a year, […]
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6th March 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Others’ shoes
One of the skills a diplomat needs – or, at least, is very useful if they have it – is to understand people. How they think, their motivations, what affects their behaviour, and so on. There is a saying in English that you should try to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes”. In other words, […]
6th March 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
An informal forum for Prime Ministers
What an experience! I have been fortunate to attend many events in my career to date, but the Northern Future Forum (NFF) is probably the most inspiring experience I’ve been a part of. To get up close and personal to so many Prime Ministers in such an informal setting as the Museum of Decorative Arts […]
6th March 2013 Paris, France
Celebrating International Women’s Day
This week on the 8th of March, it’s International Women’s Day, and we are very active in the Embassy in celebrating it. There are two events in particular that I’ve been personally engaged with – and I bring to this a very passionate belief that organisations are better when we have more women in senior […]
5th March 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Chatham House Rules Ok
I often host or attend events where we begin by saying that the discussion is based on “Chatham House Rules”, ie any comments made cannot be attributed to individuals outside of the meeting. So it was a great pleasure to host a visit by Lord Williams, the leading Asia scholar from Chatham House (London’s Royal […]
5th March 2013 Lima, Peru
The successful women of tomorrow are the empowered girls of today
By Cariño Ramos (Plan International) Women represent more than 50% (292 million) of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean, and of that total, more than 104 million are under the age of 19. Young and teenage girls are a particularly vulnerable group in society because of their gender and age. Plan International recently […]
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