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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
14th October 2025
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5th July 2012 New York, USA
Airbus Crosses the Atlantic
On Monday, I had the fantastic experience of landing an Airbus 320 in London. Well, simulating one at least, from inside a Thales full-flight simulator of an A320 at Airbus’ Miami training centre. The flight might have been virtual, but the sweat on my brow was real, and I was definitely at my most focused. […]
5th July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Patently Superb – Major EU Intellectual Property Development Contributes to UK Growth
The following is a guest post by Thomas Whitehead, Trade Policy Advisor at the British Embassy in Washington covering information communications technology and intellectual property policy. As innovation, talent, creativity, and knowledge become ever bigger drivers of the US and the UK economies, intellectual property (IP) is increasingly important as a means for delivering prosperity and growth. […]
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5th July 2012 Toronto, Canada
We want you: working visas for exceptional talent
The UK’s immense knowledge base and world-class facilities make it a natural destination for academia’s brightest minds, and we welcome thousands of overseas students, researchers and teachers into our institutions every years. Did you know that if you are internationally recognised in your field then you may be able to apply to work in the […]
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5th July 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
Staying in for the summer
Anyone who’s lived around Geneva for a while will know that the weather here plays nasty tricks. In winter the sun shines down serenely on fresh snow all week, only to turn into a vicious arctic ice-blast by the weekend. And in summer the downpours coincide with Friday afternoon work-leaving times just a little too […]
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 […]