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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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14th October 2025
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
4th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Green deal and greener dealing
Last week, two notable “green” events came to my attention. First, the UK government launched The Green Deal. This encourages property owners to make energy-saving improvements by allowing them to off-set costs against reductions in their bills. In other words, you can now pay for the the improvements over time on your electricity bill, rather […]
4th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Peacemaking and Martyrdom in the Pacific
On 1 February, I attended a special event in a special place. The Basilica of San Bartolomeo all’Isola in Rome was dedicated in 2000 by Pope John Paul II to the new martyrs of the 20th and 21st centuries. The moving memorial, managed by the Sant’Egidio Community, is significant because it is ecumenical. The martyrs […]
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4th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The accessibility of language
After I found out I was coming to Belarus, I soon discovered that there was the Belarusian, as well as the Russian, language. Unfortunately, the British tax payer can only afford to pay for me to learn one language, and that is Russian. I’ve learnt a few words of Belarusian. I’ve enjoyed the months: Студзень […]
4th February 2013 Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Learning Dari and Pashto in Tajikistan
Our Embassy often assists the British Defence School of Languages in arranging in-country Language and Cultural Training for students of Farsi and Pashto. The latest trip of three weeks included five students of Dari and two of Pashto. The following is a guest post by Fiona MacFarlane, one of the language students. We arrived in the […]
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3rd February 2013 British High Commission, Kingston, Jamaica
A few words for Human Rights
For 2013 Human Rights will continue to factor into most of my conversations. This realization is fueled in part by countless Jamaican news reports of children being murdered, or being made to work, or held in ramshackle prisons with adult offenders. Notwithstanding the moratorium, the death penalty remains on Jamaican law books. The high crime rate, extra […]
2nd February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Robert Burns and Romania
Last Saturday some 170 people gathered at the Athenee Palace Hotel in Bucharest for Burns Night – an annual celebration for the Scottish community. Born on 25th January 1759, Robert Burns is Scotland’s national poet as well as a pioneer of the Romantic movement. Burns suppers are organised each year on or around the poet’s […]
1st February 2013 Vancouver, Canada
Dickens, Dancing and Development
As January ends, it is already too late for discussion of new year’s resolutions. For many of us, the quickly laid plans for health and financial prudence have already slipped away. But a recent collection of disparate events, which reminded me how fortunate I am to be doing this job, also left me with a […]
1st February 2013 Seattle, USA
The Brits are back in Seattle
After three and a half years of leading the British Embassy in Washington’s trade policy and business affairs team, I’ve taken up a new assignment. Still in the US, happily, and a lot closer to the mountains. Still has “Washington” in the address. Still working on prosperity, trade and investment. But on the other side […]
1st February 2013 Athens, Greece
Burns Night
In many of the countries I have worked around the world there has been an active Caledonian or St Andrew’s Society, run by those with full or sometimes tenuous Scottish heritage, but enjoyed by people of many nationalities. One of the highlights of my year whilst working abroad has been the annual St Andrew’s Day Ball, […]
1st February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
CVM + IMF = 4%
There are two fundamental planks of reform in Romania, on which the Romanian authorities are engaged in commitments to the International Financial Institutions and to their EU partners – the Stand-By Agreement with the IMF (plus the World Bank and EU) and the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for tackling corruption and judicial reform with the […]