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31st December 2012 Bucharest, Romania
Christmas soup kitchen for the homeless of Bucharest
The British Embassy joined forces with Bucharest’s leading homeless charity Casa Ioana on Thursday 20th December to serve food to the homeless of Bucharest. On a sub zero and snowy December morning at the main train station in Bucharest, volunteers from the Embassy worked together with the staff from Casa Ioana. The team served …
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30th December 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Great Year
Cartoons at this time of year usually show a battered, bruised and battle-scarred old man handing over the torch of time to a new-born infant, symbolising the passage of time from the horrors of the old year to the hopes of the new. The change of year always inspires thoughts about what has passed and what is […]
28th December 2012 London, UK
List fever
For anyone who enjoys sitting down over the holidays and reading the newspapers, Christmas and New Year are open season for lists. And in 2012, there’s been a lot to talk about. We’ve seen colleagues from across Government emerging bleary-eyed from late-night negotiations in Brussels having won around new allies to our point of view, […]
27th December 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Looking back on a fascinating diplomatic experience
“Sadly for me, this Christmas is my last in Rome, as I approach the end of my posting as Deputy Head of Mission at this Embassy. As I prepare to depart in January, this end-of-year moment gives me a chance to look back on my time in this job, and what it has meant for me. To say it’s been a fascinating and busy …
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27th December 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
My pick of Govt. priorities in 2013
Shortly after the Romanian Government presented its programme I tweeted on @HMAMartinHarris my pick of the top five priorities to be taken forward in 2013. In five tweets: 1. Implementing the IMF agreement. RO has done well on fiscal consolidation. Now it’s time to progress on structural reforms and tax evasion. 2. Judicial reform. Implementing […]
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24th December 2012 London, UK
A year of digital diplomacy
Here are some of the social media highlights from the Foreign Office and its network of British embassies, high commissions and missions overseas during 2012 …
21st December 2012 Ottawa, Canada
A time of reflection
We’re into that final pre-Xmas flurry of activity, and I’m sure you’re all frantically getting ready for the holiday season. I know I am, and I’m ashamed to say that I’ve bought most of my Christmas presents online this year, which removes some of the romance of shopping, but makes life a lot easier! But […]
21st December 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Education – “learn from the best”
Along with the OECD Secretariat, and other member state representatives, I’ve been busy finalising 2013 and 2014 OECD work priorities in the last few days (more on those priorities in the New Year – lots of exciting work coming on stream in areas of UK interest). But I did want to quickly go back and reflect on […]
21st December 2012 London, UK
Consular Christmas blogs: Have a Merry and Safe Christmas, Minister Mark Simmonds…
The following is a guest post by Foreign Office Minister, Mark Simmonds. Over the last two weeks we’ve brought you a series of blogs from our consular staff from around the world. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about some of the work we do to support British nationals abroad, and gained some insight into what […]
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21st December 2012 Dublin, Ireland
Merry Christmas and Wesołych Świąt
December has certainly not been a quiet month for the Warsaw Embassy team. Just a few examples. We were extremely proud to be awarded the Medal of the Friends of Integration by the prestigious Integracja Foundation at their annual Gala last week. This reflects our work over several years to support the Polish government, Parliament […]