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Reflect & Remember: Anzac Day 2024
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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23rd April 2024
Good English – A Key to Panama’s Future Success
21st March 2024
Forests in focus on International Day of Forests
5th July 2012 Dublin, Ireland
Before the Olympic Flame is lit
A guest post by Senator Andrzej Person (Polish Olympic Attaché), marking three weeks to go to the London 2012 Olympics. It’s only three weeks until the referee blows his whistle to signal the start of the Olympic Football Tournament in Cardiff on 26 July. The next day, Friday 27 July, the eyes of the world will focus […]
5th July 2012 Athens, Greece
Ed Roman, Nemead/2nd Secretary Economic
London 2012 has been a major FCO priority this year, for British Embassy Athens especially. For 6th century BC city-state diplomats the Olympics was but one of four ancient Greek sporting contests to organise. Mythology suggests the Nemean games were founded by Herakles, having completed the first of his labours – wrestling the Nemean Lion. […]
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4th July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
OECD and IMF ‘Triple Crisis’
I only started blogging a week ago so I hope you’ll indulge me if I go back to something from June, as I think it is an issue that is only going to get more important. I’m talking about IMF Chief Christine Lagarde’s “Back to Rio, the road to a sustainable future” speech at the […]
3rd July 2012 USA
British Geeks making the world GREAT
Wikipedia defines “geek” as people who choose “concentration rather than conformity” and who “passionately pursue skills and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.” These days, being a geek can be seen as rather cool. DC has a high concentration of self identified geeks: in fact, if only being “geeky” could become supercool the world would be […]
2nd July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Nudge nudge
British tax authorities recently added a sentence to the top of letters to people who hadn’t paid their tax yet, simply noting that most other people had already paid up. The extra sentence is thought to have netted an extra £160million in tax revenue paid on time. In another “nudge”, emails or texts were sent to […]
2nd July 2012 Nairobi, Kenya
A happier anniversary?
And so off to Rome, for the 22nd meeting of the International Contact Group (ICG) on Somalia, where together with colleagues from London and the British Office for Somalia, we will join the UK delegation headed by our Minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham MP. The ICG is the latest – and last – in a […]
2nd July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Joining a running club; gay rights and Elton John; and goodbye to Kyiv
I arrived in Kyiv on 14 June 2008 in a rainstorm and saw Paul McCartney perform in Independence Square. I leave today having seen Elton John and Queen on 30 June in Independence Square; and Kyiv throbbing to the excitement of a classic European Championship final between Spain and Italy on 1 July. I’d like […]
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2nd July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Freedom of Religion: what we are doing to protect it
In the joint communiqué signed between the British Government and the Holy See in February this year, both sides committed to “working together to combat intolerance and discrimination based on religion, wherever it is manifest”. This was a significant promise. What does it mean in practice? In essence, it means working together multilaterally and internationally […]
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1st July 2012 Harare, Zimbabwe
Digging Deep
In the run up to the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan I have invited members of the PRT to use my blog to talk about their work. The first has been written by Mary Thida-Lun from the PRT’s Socio-Economic Development Team. 51…52…53…54…55…56…57…58…59… Why do those last 10 seconds on the treadmill always stretch out for an eternity? […]
29th June 2012 New York, USA
The Dapper Gentleman Reworked
The gentlemen of London have long had a well-respected signature style. Tailored suits, crisp lines, and classic accessories are staples of their wardrobes. But London is also known for the avant-garde, like the 60s mod and rocker looks of the past, influenced heavily by pop culture. And while you can visit London, like any good […]