9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
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
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
13th June 2012 Washington DC, USA
Graduating with a GREAT degree of style
This month marks Fashion is GREAT month where the UK will celebrate all that is GREAT and good about British Fashion — and boy is there a lot! From new talents like the award winning, Top Shop designer Mary Catherine Katranczou (whose printed dresses are to die for) who, before moving to London, studied in […]
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13th June 2012 Toronto, Canada
Alistair Burt MP visits Toronto
Minister Alistair Burt, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, made a quick visit to Canada last week (North America is among his many geographical responsibilities) and spent a day taking in the highlights of Toronto. SIN co-managed a visit to OCE Discovery, Ontario’s headline research-to-commercialisation trade show, and to Toronto Rehab […]
13th June 2012 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
‘I am “us” and I am “them”’
I have said before that I wanted to blog for a number of reasons, including showcasing the High Commission’s work to a wider audience. I also said that I wanted to show that the Foreign Office is representative of diverse, modern Britain and to dispel the myth that there is a glass ceiling in the […]
12th June 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
#Euro2012 in #Donetsk
“So, you’re an England fan?” “Yes.” “Where are you from?” “We are Russian.” The presence of significant numbers of Russian fans wearing England team colours and apparently supporting England was one of the more unexpected elements of the visit to Donetsk by our consular team and myself in the run-up of the England’s EURO 2012 […]
12th June 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Antarctic Treaty Meeting in Tasmania
Speaking at the opening of the 35th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ACTM) in Hobart, Tasmania, former PM Bob Hawke was passionate as he described his role in helping secure the 1989 Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection. The meeting brings together 49 signatory nations, of which 28 are “consultative parties” which, like Britain, carry out research […]
11th June 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Diamond Jubilee and a cup of tea on the road to Axum
Last week we joined friends and contacts from the Addis Ababa community (including from tour operators and travel companies through whom we would be in touch with British visitors in a crisis) on the Residence lawn for tea and Victoria sponge cake to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. And despite the odd rumble […]
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11th June 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Forced Marriage Made Illegal
In his 2011 message for World Peace Day, Pope Benedict emphasised the role of the family as “the school of freedom of peace”, the bedrock of our social fabric. His Holiness added that the family founded on marriage was “the expression of the close union and complementarity between a man and a woman”. The practice […]
11th June 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Jubileul de Diamant al Reginei Elisabeta a II-a – Mesajul Ambasadorului
Astăzi organizăm o serie de evenimente în București dedicate sărbătoririi a 60 de ani de domnie a Majestății Sale Regina Elisabeta a II-a a Regatului Unit al Marii Britanii și Irlandei de Nord. Se întâmplă doar a doua oară în istorie când un suveran britanic sărbătorește un Jubileu de Diamant și sunt bucuros că pot […]
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11th June 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
God Save The Queen!
Today we are holding a series of events here in Bucharest to mark the 60th anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This is only the second time in our long history that the British sovereign has celebrated a […]
10th June 2012 Budapest, Hungary
Hot in the city
I’ve completed a 7 km run in the heat of a sunny, summer Budapest today. I’m exhausted. I did it as part of an Embassy team: six of us running in relay and so completing a marathon between us. Our aim was to help the Robert Burns International Foundation (RBIF) raise money to buy a […]