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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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17th December 2025
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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14th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Romania’s new government: week one
Victor Ponta’s new government got off on the right foot last week by making clear that its economic policy will continue to be framed within the programme agreed between Romania and the EU, World Bank, and IMF. The IMF programme sets out what Romania needs to do, both in terms of fiscal consolidation and structural […]
14th May 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Grey Partridges
I very recently took part in the launch of a new book covering the most remarkable chapter in the history of relations between Britain and Romania. Professor Costel Coroban has researched and presented the extraordinary story of the Scottish women’s ambulance corps (known as the Grey Partridges because of the colour of their uniforms). This […]
11th May 2012 London, UK
EU Treaty Change Bill announced
Yesterday Lord Howell introduced the European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill to Parliament, as outlined in Her Majesty’s Speech earlier this week. The purpose of the Bill is very straightforward. It simply provides for Parliamentary approval of a Treaty change which makes explicit the ability of eurozone countries to set up a European […]
11th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
An Evolving Debate in Europe and America
Something I always dread happened the other day. A lunch guest bounced up to me enthusiastically and asked me how I felt about the President’s announcement. I was uncharacteristically but completely nonplussed. I’d been in back to back meetings all morning in Sacramento (hearing a rather different view from that of the Bay on economics and innovation […]
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