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?
11th September 2012 Nairobi, Kenya
Somalia: stepping into the future
Yesterday, Somalia marked a major milestone in its recent history. After two decades of civil war, and a year after the Roadmap was agreed, the Transitional Period finally concluded with the election by MPs of new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud. This was the first such election inside Somalia for many years and came just weeks after […]
11th September 2012 Washington DC, USA
Witnessing history at the US Open
What a privilege to be at the Arthur Ashe stadium last night, for the final, so long-awaited triumph of a summer of extraordinary sporting success for our country! A roller-coaster of emotions ranging from joyous admiration to head-holding agony when it looked as though the prize might once again be slipping from Andy Murray’s grasp. […]
11th September 2012 Warsaw, Poland
The biggest, greatest Olympic welcome back home ever!
21.20 last night the plane touched down at Okęcie Airport in Warsaw bringing back the best ever performing Polish Paralympic Team ever. 101 athletes across 11 disciplines; 36 medals – the 9th best team in the world, rank 3 in Europe and by far the leader of the pack in the Emerging Europe countries. A […]
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11th September 2012 London, UK
The Brunei Blogosphere: Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures
I read somewhere that Brunei Darussalam was the most “Facebooked” country in the world, on a per capita basis. Whether or not that’s true, Brunei’s extraordinary levels of literacy (94.9%, among the highest in the world), and online of freedom of expression, combine to make “virtual Brunei” a dynamic and fascinating place. With a population […]
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11th September 2012 Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town winter
It’s been a dreary old winter in Cape Town – lots of rain and wind. It’s probably not what the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon John Bercow was expecting on his recent visit to the South African Parliament (which, incidentally, for historical reasons is based here, rather than the country’s capital city, […]
10th September 2012 Warsaw, Poland
A GREAT British Olympic Weekend in Kraków
The last weekend of the Proms season and the climax of the Great British Paralympics in London. A quick dash from the Embassy to the evening train to Kraków. What a Great weekend. This was the end of the week where both British and Polish Olympic teams exceeded their medal targets – the UK 3rd […]
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7th September 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A few words from the UK Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan
From time to time I intend to invite guest bloggers to contribute to this space. I’m delighted that this week our special representative, who will be attending the negotiations in Addis, has written the following: “I was delighted to have been appointed to this role in May of this year, following several years working on […]
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7th September 2012 Bangalore, India
Catapulting innovation
Ever since I worked in Knowledge Management for Mahindra Satyam I have been fascinated by how research ideas become products on the shelf. Looking at examples of university spinouts or SMEs one realises that most success in the product space is due to hard work, access to the right ecosystems, funding, and technology networks to […]
7th September 2012 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
They’re Almost Here…
With less than a week to go until The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive in Malaysia, the High Commission team is in overdrive trying to ensure that all of the events have been planned to the last detail and that we have the protocol, security and media requirements just right. I feel incredibly proud […]
7th September 2012 Warsaw, Poland
Young Business is Great!
Young people, skills and business! A great mix. I was very pleased to be opening an event today in the Embassy’s Conference Centre organised together with the British-Polish Chamber of Commerce (BPCC) and SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise). What’s that all about? SIFE is a CSR project which is supporting young people to understand business […]