3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
26th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Try, Try Again
Last week we celebrated Burns Night, the traditional gathering of the clans to commemorate the great Scottish poet who was born into a poor farming family, but is now the literary hero of a nation. He had to struggle to gain acceptance and appreciation and faced bankruptcy and failure many times. I was reminded of […]
26th February 2013 Yerevan, Armenia
Yerevan Metro Rehabilitation- older and better just like the London Tube
The following is a guest post by Erik Gyulazyan, Trade and Prosperity Adviser, British Embassy Yerevan. We all know that the older a wine gets the better it is. But for a vintage wine to meet our expectations it must be given constant attention down the years by highly-skilled experts. This year the London Underground […]
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26th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Great Hatred, Little Room
A guest blog by Peter Spoor, Head of Press and Projects Team at the British Embassy in Ankara, Turkey On a recent visit to Diyarbakir in Turkey’s south east, I was struck by how much the violence and terrorism of the past thirty years has blighted the region’s development. Business leaders I met spoke of the […]
26th February 2013 Tripoli, Libya
Getting Started!
Welcome to my blog! I am hoping to share some personal reflections about this beguiling and complicated country very soon. Suffice it to say that I am preoccupied with the preparations for the Friends of Yemen meeting which takes place in London less than two weeks from now, on 7 March. Another way-marker on the […]
26th February 2013 Bucharest, Romania
AKCEES-ing entrepreneurship is GREAT
Entrepreneurship is one of those key words business people bring up a lot these days. And it is easy to understand why. Jobs for the ever-increasing unemployed youths, creativity, innovation, and competitive edges that can bring more dynamism to Romania’s business landscape – these are just of a few of the arguments that are put […]
25th February 2013 Washington DC, USA
The Biggest Computer I’ve Ever Seen, and Why Sometimes 0 and 1 Just Ain’t Enough
When you work in international scientific collaboration, you sometimes take inspiration from bizarre sources. Like this 2008 Gonzales song “Working Together”: Last week, I had a UK high-performance computing group with me in DC, Pittsburgh and Chicago, and couldn’t get the song out of my head. The US Science and Innovation Network runs a lot […]
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25th February 2013 Washington DC, USA
And the Band Plays on… Tour to the South
The following is a guest blog by Major Andrew Halliday from the Black Watch. Major Halliday is currently taking part in the Pipes and Drums of The Black Watch and the Military Band of the Scots Guards 2013 US tour. This is his second post as they head towards the Carolinas and Texas. The Black […]
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25th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Olympic Flame burns bright in Romania
I was in Poiana Brasov last week to support Team GB at the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. I spent two days on the slopes, and brought my three daughters along too to watch the figure skating – their favourite sport. For many of the young British athletes and their coaches this was their first […]
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25th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Istanbul: bridges, tunnels, airports and – maybe – Olympics
Two vast bridges spans a picturesque strait. Nearby, engineers are completing a rail tunnel which, like the bridges, will link Europe and Asia. A third bridge is under construction. A road tunnel is planned, together with a brand-new airport which, with a capacity of 150 million passengers, will be the world’s largest. Welcome to Istanbul. […]
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25th February 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
Showtime
Anyone who has been through a March session of the Human Rights Council knows that you never come out it of quite the same person as you go in. While the rest of the year’s meetings are important, seasoned Council goers will tell you that March is special. It’s the main event; the Saturday night […]