3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
16th November 2012 Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston: an eventful first month
I’m into my second month as Deputy High Commissioner in Jamaica. It’s my third diplomatic posting and first time in the Caribbean, which offers a real contrast to my previous assignments in Beijing and Singapore. Preparing for the posting, my husband and I attended many Jamaican events in London this summer and at a talk on […]
16th November 2012 London, UK
“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her”
It was my embarrassment and a Pakistani journalist’s passion for the English Lake District that got me there. I was dressed head to toe in waterproofs, having climbed 500m, and the rain was turning to hail and sleet. The crags in the peaks behind me were being smoothed out by the first snowfalls. In the distance England’s largest […]
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16th November 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
How football can teach you English
One of the things I know for sure after attempting to learn many languages over many years is that each person learns languages differently. Here in Istanbul there are countless institutions teaching English. Many are excellent. But did you know that there are also some fantastic interactive English language-learning sites on the Internet available free […]
15th November 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Listening to the voices of women (and men)
I have spent the past few days talking about women. In some ways it feels unfortunate to still be talking about women’s role in society in the 21st century but we shouldn’t underestimate the challenges that remain in all countries to achieve gender equality and respect between the sexes. What was interesting about the meetings […]
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15th November 2012 Budapest, Hungary
I like surprises…
Guest blog by Foreign Policy, Justice and Home Affairs and Human Rights Attaché Levente Nyitrai …and surprises seem to like me too as I’ve had plenty of them in the past few months. In July I found out that I’d been nominated for the British Civil Service Diversity and Equality Award in the so-called Individual […]
15th November 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Meeting new friends at the Friends Arena
Every once in a while you have one of those moments you know you’ll remember for a long time. Hearing Simon and Garfunkel in Hyde Park, or Elton John in Madison Square Garden are two musical examples. In football, I will never forget being in the Stade de France when my school mate John Collins […]
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15th November 2012 Warsaw, Poland
From Glasgow to Guildford – Great British Exporters grapple to go to EMERGING EUROPE
A superb EMERGING EUROPE South West UK event in Guildford. We have seen a massive 600 companies and reached out to 1000s more in the space of 7 days; a journey of over 1000 miles taking the EMERGING EUROPE message across the UK. A non-stop, high performance roadshow aimed at taking our great message to […]
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15th November 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Steps for Life
This past week we have been commemorating 50 years of Cheshire Services Ethiopia. Founded by Group Captain Leonard Cheshire in 1962, with the help of the Ethiopian Royal Family, they have since proved the most enduring and one of the most successful NGOs in Ethiopia. As with the Cheshire Homes in the UK, the main […]
15th November 2012 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Climate
Last week I went to see the people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who are preparing for a high-level climate change meeting in Doha (in Qatar) at the end of this month – the 18th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. I went to explain the UK’s approach to […]
15th November 2012 Vientiane, Laos
That was the week that was
Phew, what a week! A visit by our Foreign Secretary, William Hague, the Asia Europe Summit and the formal opening of our new Embassy in Vientiane all in the space of two days! This is what we have been preparing in the last few weeks and I’m pleased to say it all went well. The […]