17th July 2025
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
15th July 2025
International Day of Women in Diplomacy: UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls visit to Geneva
1st May 2025
The UN Commission on the Status of Women: My first visit as UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls
15th February 2013 New Delhi, India
The atmosphere’s great in Indo-UK climate science!
Last week was an exceptional week in taking the UK-India relationship in climate science to an even higher level, from an already strong position. The week was jam-packed with three events, two of which ran in parallel. The first was the joint Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) – UK’s Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) scoping […]
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14th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Video blog from Sibiu
While in Sibiu, I was challenged by the regional blogging community to do a video blog about my trip. So here it is. Find out more about my meetings with the local authorities and the British businesses.
14th February 2013 Lima, Peru
Peru: Violence against women persists
By: Andrea Querol. Executive Director and Founder of Capital Humano y Social Alternativo. When you work on areas related to human rights, you do not need to dig deep to realise that women (as well as children and teenagers) are often the most vulnerable in our societies. Their rights are violated constantly; not just during […]
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13th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Don’t underestimate the impact of a face to face meetings.
Anyone who has worked in Latin America will know that nothing really replaces face to face contact for increasing understanding and building relationships. That is why it is so positive for the UK’s relationship with Guatemala that one of the first visits by Foreign Minister Fernando Carrera has been to the UK. His meeting with […]
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13th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Helping British Businesses from Istanbul to Bishkek to Moscow and beyond
In the Palm Court of the British Consulate-General in Istanbul, staff are gathered from British Embassies in eight South Caucasus and Central Asian countries1 ranging from Georgia in the west to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in the east. Trade and Investment specialists from the British Embassy in Moscow and from UK Trade and Investment in London as […]
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13th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Fatherhood and Mansaf
Political slogans are part of elections all round the world. They try to encapsulate a simple attractive catchphrase to make the voter support their candidate. They usually promise a better world and try to energise the voter: “Yes We Can”, “Tough on Crime” “The Buck Stops Here”. The trouble with election slogans is that they tend […]
13th February 2013 London, UK
Regatta Brunei 2013
Be careful what you wish for. That mantra went round and round in my head as I and twelve other Excellencies paddled down the Brunei River, vainly trying to catch the boat in front, urged on by friendly cheering (or was it laughter) from every jetty, doorway and window of Kampong Ayer – Brunei’s Water […]
12th February 2013 London, UK
Digitalising Diplomacy in Malaysia | FCO Blogs
Nikesh Mehta, Foreign Policy and Security Counsellor at the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, on digital diplomacy…
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12th February 2013 Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Parties, Plov and Perseverance
The following is a post by Robert Price, a Philosophy and Politics undergraduate at the University of Exeter who has recently completed an internship at the Embassy. Give Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Tajikistan, Robin Ord-Smith, a karaoke machine, and he will show you that he has the voice of an angel. This is just one […]
12th February 2013 New Delhi, India
How smart is your power?
Did you know that the Indian network operators have an average generating shortfall of 7% (peak >10%) and power demand is growing by 7% per annum, resulting in many areas receiving power for only 6-8hrs per day? I got to learn many such interesting facts when I met a group of organisations involved in Smart […]