9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
14th October 2025
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
27th November 2012 Nairobi, Kenya
Somalia: Breaking The Silence On Sexual Violence
Earlier this year, the British Foreign Secretary William Hague MP, announced a new initiative to prevent sexual violence against women. It aims to strengthen international efforts and coordination to prevent and respond to sexual violence, to erode the existing culture of impunity, to increase the number of perpetrators brought to justice and to support states […]
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27th November 2012 Budapest, Hungary
Emerging Europe
I was back in the UK for a few days recently. I’m coordinating the work the UK’s Embassies in Central Europe do in promoting trade opportunities for British business in the region. Within Central Europe the export markets are modest by world standards. But together they make up a market of some 100 million people. […]
27th November 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Nicoleta Ghita – British Ambassador for a Day
On Tuesday last week I gave up my seat as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Romania to Nicoleta Ghita, a very confident and capable young lady from Sector 5 in Bucharest. This was part of Child Takeover Day – an initiative that started in the UK and has been brought to Romania for the first time […]
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26th November 2012 Atlanta, USA
America’s Got Talent
This is the time of year when the winners of two of the most prestigious scholarship awards in the US are announced: the Rhodes scholars and the Marshall scholars. The young Americans named on those lists will next year launch into an experience which will shape their life paths: one to three years of fully […]
26th November 2012 Paris, France
The UK and the EU budget
I want to talk to you about two things this week. First of all, the European Union budget. You may have seen in the press last week, in the run up to the European Council at the end of the week, a lot of stories suggesting that Britain was isolated. I saw one headline in […]
26th November 2012 Athens, Greece
Searching for growth in Greece
“Where can Greece find growth?” is perhaps the most frequently asked question here (and beyond) just now. One answer might be: on the internet. As part of Britain’s drive to establish a more comprehensive European Single Market, British Embassy Athens has been working closely with Greece’s burgeoning digital sector, the Government and the EU Commission […]
26th November 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Protecting Human Dignity: Violence against Women
25 November was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It is shameful that crimes by humans against other humans are, it seems, an inevitable element of the human condition. The use of rape as a weapon of war, or human trafficking as a lucrative trade by organised crime, are all too […]
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26th November 2012 Cape Town, South Africa
Prevention of Gender Based Violence
I have just returned from a visit to South Africa’s Eastern Cape – one of the three provinces we cover from the Consulate-General in Cape Town (the Western and Northern Capes are the other two provinces). As well as Port Elizabeth and East London, I visited the rural towns of Craddock, Bedford and Graaf-Reinet, talking […]
26th November 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
From the Communism we never had to the Capitalism we’ll never achieve
I gave a lecture to a very engaged and smart group of students at the Institute for International Relations at Cluj University on Wednesday last week. You can find the text here. It draws on my experience working in countries in transition over the last twenty years, and draws the conclusion that the concept of […]
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26th November 2012 Kingston, Jamaica
Tars and Tarps
My job in the last week has involved discussions with ‘tars’ (or sailors) about ‘tarps’ (or tarpaulins). When posted to Singapore I had the opportunity to visit a number of other nations’ ships, which often stopped at the naval base for a few days. Last week in Kingston we had a short-notice visit from a […]