17th December 2025
MAKING LIFE SAFER, FOR EVERYONE
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
23rd July 2012 Budapest, Hungary
Better together
I’m very proud of how inclusive a place the UK is. We welcome all kinds of people: whatever their race, religion or minority group. And there are great benefits from doing that. I believe this attitude is not just good for the people who come to the UK or who live there and are not […]
23rd July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Queen’s tribute to a Queen
I spent last weekend with friends in Bran, the favourite mountain refuge of Queen Marie of Romania in her later years. I’m reading her biography at the moment, and came across a lovely entry in her diary in 1934. Queen Marie was in the UK in the spring of that year to promote her book, […]
23rd July 2012 Dublin, Ireland
A GREAT Summer
Sorry to have been off the air but I spent much of last week visiting Budapest and Bucharest in my role as Director of the Central European Network, which brings together nine Embassies in Central Europe. It was fascinating to compare the situation in Poland with the situations elsewhere in the area. There are many […]
22nd July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Olympic Truce
In ancient Greece, where the Olympic Games originated, there was a sacred tradition that warring city states would lay down their arms to allow athletes to compete in the Games. Warlords were unable to take the opportunity of teams crossing their territory to score points against their enemies, or take sportsmen hostage. Greeks could concentrate on sport, […]
21st July 2012 Harare, Zimbabwe
One year on, reflections on Lashkar Gah’s entry into Transition
To mark the one year anniversary of Lashkar Gah’s transition to Afghan control (the first area to transition in Helmand), please see a guest blog from the Stabilisation Advisor for Lashkar Gah at this significant time. I arrived in Helmand in October of 2010 to work alongside local Government as a District Stabilisation Advisor, in the […]
Read more on One year on, reflections on Lashkar Gah’s entry into Transition | Reply
20th July 2012 Nairobi, Kenya
Hargeisa Book Fair – Arts, Culture and so much more
And so to Hargeisa for the Hargeisa International Book Fair, an inspiring gathering of artists, authors, poets and more. Established by Jama Musse Jama and organized by the wonderful Ayan Mahamoud and her excellent team, the Book Fair is now in its fifth year. Hargeisa may have no theatre, no permanent library and no cinema, […]
Read more on Hargeisa Book Fair – Arts, Culture and so much more | Reply (20)
19th July 2012 London, UKLima, Peru
Embassies and the Olympic Games
By Julio Muñoz-Deacon, Peruvian Ambassador to the United Kingdom With only a few days to go until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games,hopes are rising, excitement mounts and everyone is crossing their fingers hoping for good weather again after so many days of rain and cold. Today is sunny and without rain. A good sign. […]
19th July 2012 Toronto, Canada
Public access to publicly-funded research
The question of whether the public should be allowed to freely access publicly-funded research has been raging for years now, culminating recently in an all-out assault on the restrictions of traditional publishing models dubbed the Academic Spring. Read on for some history and what the UK is doing about it. The “traditional” model of research […]
Read more on Public access to publicly-funded research | Reply
19th July 2012 Chevening, UK
The impact winning a Chevening Scholarship can have
Our latest Chevening Conversations blog entry is by Mike Nithavrianakis, British Deputy High Commissioner in India. Mike tells us about when he met two successful Chevening Scholars, Girija Vaidyanathan and Shaffi Mather as part of his work, demonstrating the impact winning a Chevening Scholarship can have. I visited Trivandrum and Kochi on 21-23 May for a series of meetings with the Government of Kerala, as […]
Read more on The impact winning a Chevening Scholarship can have | Reply (3)
19th July 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
Quietly Momentous
It was a strange June Council session. By starting much later this year, it felt like school had been punishingly extended for 3 extra weeks, just as the bell should have been granting us our summer freedom. Everyone did their best to wear their polite, professional faces. But the truth was, we all wanted to […]