25th April 2024
Reflect & Remember: Anzac Day 2024
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
23rd April 2024
Good English – A Key to Panama’s Future Success
21st March 2024
Forests in focus on International Day of Forests
17th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
IDAHO in Ukraine
On the eve of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) I’m delighted to meet in Kyiv old friend Clare Dimyon, a British human rights activist whom I last met in June 2009. At that time, Clare was visiting Ukraine to coincide with the Second National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) conference in […]
17th May 2012 New Delhi, India
Visit to Indian Institute of Geomagnetism
Recently Science and Innovation team in India converged to Mumbai to assess how we fared against our team objectives for the year 2011-12. But that’s another story. Here I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you about an institute tucked away in a city known the world over for the Bollywood industry rather than […]
Read more on Visit to Indian Institute of Geomagnetism | Reply
17th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Let’s talk about equality
Today is International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Many international events will take place this day, intended to raise awareness about discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and to promote respect for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The UK Government is committed to the promotion and protection of the […]
16th May 2012 Guatemala City, Guatemala
Mixing business with pleasure
Our last blog previewed our visit to Guatemala’s second city, Quetzaltenango, or Xela as it’s also known locally, to participate in their First International Festival, “Xelaju es un Lugar Diferente”. Now that we’re back, we thought that we would share with you what a successful and fun time we had, disproving the theory that you […]
16th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Football and politics
The images are powerful. A woman prisoner displays bruises which she says were caused by mistreatment by prison guards. Allegations by ex-prime minister Yuliya Tymoshenko that she was physically mistreated by prison guards, followed by counter-claims by prison authorities that this never happened, have caused controversy in the rest of Europe. In an intense cycle […]
15th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
LA Environmental
If someone had asked me to picture a stereotype of Los Angeles prior to my trip there at the end of last week, I might have imagined sun bouncing off the Hollywood sign, towering above huge highways where massive cars roared by, conveying wannabe starlets through the smog to their latest audition or waitress interview. […]
15th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Commons Foreign Affairs Committee studies Australian thinking on Commonwealth
Back in Canberra after 28 hours of flights, and straight into a programme with visiting members of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC). Senior backbenchers were in Canberra as part of the Committee’s enquiry into the Commonwealth. Other FAC members were travelling to different parts of the world. We arranged a busy programme […]
Read more on Commons Foreign Affairs Committee studies Australian thinking on Commonwealth | Reply
14th May 2012 London, UK
Europe – The view from across the Atlantic
After a week of change in Europe, it was no surprise what was on the minds of many of my contacts in the US this week. Both in Boston and in Washington I was quizzed about the new French President, Greek efforts to form a coalition, and most importantly – how all this was going […]
Read more on Europe – The view from across the Atlantic | Reply
14th May 2012 Ottawa, Canada
Signing of the Canada/UK Joint Innovation Statement!
On Tuesday of last week (May 8, 2012) the Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, and Lord Green, Minister of State for Trade and Investment met in Montreal and signed the Canada/UK Joint Innovation Statement. The ceremony was attended by a small audience, and in case you were following our twitterfeed: [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/UKinCanada/status/199954199398727681″] The signing happened in […]
Read more on Signing of the Canada/UK Joint Innovation Statement! | Reply (3)
14th May 2012 Nairobi, Kenya
Celebrating excellence in Somali journalism
A week ago I posted a blog about world press day and the plight of journalism in Somalia – one of the dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. I want to pick up this theme – but also highlight one of the many and vital successes. This is of course, Jamal Osman, […]
Read more on Celebrating excellence in Somali journalism | Reply (3)