3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
9th January 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Pope Benedict speaks to the World
As is traditional, earlier this week Pope Benedict XVI received ambassadors from the 179 countries accredited to the Holy See for his New Year’s address on Holy See concerns, interests and recommendations on the main foreign affairs issues of the day. Behind the pomp and circumstance of one of the great annual events of the […]
9th January 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
New Year in Sydney… and bushfires
Once again we spent New Year’s Eve watching the spectacular fireworks in Sydney Harbour, from the 16th floor office of our Sydney Consulate General. The city was packed with revellers. I was very impressed with how easy it was to get back afterwards, as public transport was running late into the night and free of […]
8th January 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The 3 Ts of the G8 – what would they mean to us?
In 2013 the UK holds the Presidency of the G8 (the group of 8, the governments of 8 of the world’s largest economies). Even though Guatemala and Honduras do not form part of the G8 the themes of the UK’s Presidency are very relevant here. We want to drive global prosperity by promoting open economies, […]
Read more on The 3 Ts of the G8 – what would they mean to us? | Reply
8th January 2013 Washington DC, USA
FCO Seeks Innovative NGO Counter-Proliferation Projects to Fund
How do you prevent the spread of dangerous weapons around the world? Negotiations? Treaties? Sanctions? Seizing illegal shipments? Securing dangerous materials? All of these play an important part. But there is always room for innovation. And who is better suited than the wealth of NGOs and think-tanks based here in the US to combine their […]
Read more on FCO Seeks Innovative NGO Counter-Proliferation Projects to Fund | Reply
8th January 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Europe in 2013
First and foremost, happy New Year. I hope 2013 is a great year for all of you. Late 2012 marked the mid-point of the UK Coalition government’s five year term and this week the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister published the Government’s own mid-term review. Given the interest in Sweden on the UK’s approach […]
8th January 2013 London, UK
Digital’s place in the diplomatic toolkit | GDS
Departments’ Digital Strategies showed how far the impact of digital has been within government. For the FCO, the addition of social media tools to the diplomatic arena will be incredibly important: Like many organisations the FCO’s communications teams are well versed in the opportunities social media provides, from distributing and amplifying consular messages to British […]
Read more on Digital’s place in the diplomatic toolkit | GDS | Reply
7th January 2013 Ottawa, Canada
2012: SIN Canada, a Year in Review
So it’s 2013 already! My how time flies when you’re having fun! It’s about this time of year when I like to take a step back and look at what we’ve accomplished over the last 365 days, and to start looking forward to the adventures the coming year will bring. Well, what did last year […]
5th January 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
New Year in Sudan
2012 in Sudan seemed hectic pretty much up until the last minute. 2013 promises to be no less. So, like many others, I squeezed in a bit of holiday between the two. My son came to visit and we spent some time visiting the old, the new and the in-between in Sudan. The old were […]
3rd January 2013 Washington DC, USA
2012 – A Fantastic Year for British Fashion
As 2012 and my first six months of my job at the Embassy came to a close, my colleagues and I reflected back on how great the year was for the UK. One of the reasons that we were able to celebrate this was because of the cutting edge UK fashion industry. Recently our very […]
Read more on 2012 – A Fantastic Year for British Fashion | Reply (4)
3rd January 2013 Toronto, Canada
The Raspberry Pi comes to Toronto
If you aren’t familiar with the Raspberry Pi, it’s a $35 computer about the size of a credit card. Designed and assembled in the UK, the RPi was conceived as an educational tool to bring “real” computer science back into schools. Rather than simply learning how to be an end-user of computer programs, students would […]