3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
7th November 2018 Vienna, Austria
Recollections of loss – Edmund de Waal in Vienna
It is 1.59 a.m. in Vienna. The city sleeps. But at the Kunsthistorisches Museum a crowd waits in eager anticipation. At precisely 2 a.m., the British artist and writer Edmund de Waal steps forward to begin a talk called During the Night with the words “So, it’s two in the morning in the Kunsthistorische Museum. […]
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6th November 2018 Skopje, North Macedonia
Bringing people together through history
“He lay out upon a precipitous hillside, under the light of a waning moon. It was very quiet; the guns, active throughout the night, were now dumb. On either side of him, in a silence only broken by their heavy breathing, the men of the battalion lay prone along a series of tape lines, laid […]
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5th November 2018 Vienna, Austria
Modern Slavery: London and Vienna working together
One year ago at the UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Theresa May launched a Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. Tackling the scourge of modern slavery is a top priority for the British Government. We are delighted that dozens of UN Member States have signed up […]
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27th October 2018 Skopje, North Macedonia
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
I was brought up in multi-cultural multi-ethnic multi-religious Manchester in the north of England. To me this meant eating different food and celebrating festivals ranging from fireworks at Divali to lighting Chanuckah candles. For my family our beliefs were very important to us but so was respect for other people’s. Article 18 of the Universal […]
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25th October 2018 Skopje, North Macedonia
Why Chevening?
This is my first blog as deputy ambassador at the British Embassy here in Skopje, and I want to use it to highlight one of the favourite parts of my job as a British diplomat: the opportunities the British government offer to fund postgraduate study at a UK university. For the past 25 years the UK […]
24th October 2018 Guatemala City, Guatemala
Of turtles and (the illegal wildlife) trade
I spent last weekend on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, in the rain. Rain, however, is what you need if you want to see one of nature’s most amazing spectacles – a female turtle coming ashore in the blackness of the night to dig a hole in the sand and lay 40 – 60 eggs. […]
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24th October 2018 London,UK
They are Chevening
One of the most important events of our annual Chevening Scholarships calendar is the orientation day, held on Saturday at the ExCel Centre in London’s Docklands, when new Chevening scholars learnt more about the year that awaited them, had the opportunity to debate key issues from climate change to artificial intelligence, and heard from such […]
19th October 2018 Beirut, Lebanon
Lebanon at first sight…my first month as British Ambassador
As Fayruz says….. bhebak ya lebnan. “Ahla wa sahla saadet el safir” said my welcoming team at the airport – “shoukran, please call me Chris, and do speak to me in Arabic” I said back. That was only 5 weeks ago – it seems much further back. Lebanon has a reputation for outstanding hospitality, stunning […]
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19th October 2018 Vienna, Austria
Portugal, Britain and Vorarlberg: European Connections
What brings together Portuguese painter Vieira Portuense (1765-1805); Swiss painter Angelika Kauffmann (1741-1807); and English painter Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830)? More than you might think. The connections between the three illustrate the close connections between artists in the Europe of the 18th and 19th centuries. They are also a reminder that such connections continue to […]
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16th October 2018 Science Innovation USA
Agri-Tech mission to St Louis puts UK innovation on the world stage
A SIN-sponsored delegation travelled from the UK to St Louis, Missouri last month (8-12 September) to promote British innovation in agricultural technologies to a global audience at the Ag Innovation Showcase. The mission, led by SIN Chicago with organisational support from DIT Chicago and the UK Honorary Consul for Missouri, created new connections for UK companies […]
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