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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
10th October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Death Penalty
Today is the 9th World Day against the Death Penalty. It is the longstanding policy of the UK to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. However the death penalty is not prohibited by international law and 58 countries in the world retain it – that is 58 too many. […]
10th October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Footsteps4good – walking on Gandhi’s birthday for a Mumbai cause
Most Indians know that 2 October marks the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. That fact is less well known among UK staff in the Deputy High Commission, but they were aware enough when they joined about 700 others in a 10K walk or run at 7am to mark the date, and raise money […]
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7th October 2011 Ottawa, Canada
Thank you
There was a fire at Earnscliffe on the night of Tuesday, 4 October. It began at about 7.30 pm, when the smoke alarms went off. The house rapidly filled with smoke, and we evacuated the building. The Ottawa Fire Department arrived in 5 minutes, and deployed with speed and great efficiency. It took about an […]
6th October 2011 Toronto, Canada
Grand opening of the Stephen Hawking Centre
Last week saw the grand opening of the Stephen Hawking Centre at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. Various luminaries (including the Governor General, David Johnston) turned out for inspiring speeches, a facility tour and the live recording of part of Stephen Hawking: The Power of Ideas. Many of the speakers mentioned […]
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6th October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Is Kyiv worth a visit?
The following is a guest blog from Mary and Detlef Golletz, friends of mine who visited in the summer. “Kyiv?” friends asked quizzically as we discussed plans for a short break. A reasonable question, given that it proved impossible to buy local currency in the UK and our 2008 Lonely Planet Guide said that the […]
5th October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
EU jargon and Ukraine: what it means
A long time ago in a previous job I used to lecture students and bureaucrats on the EU budgetary process. I used to hand out a mind-bogglingly complicated diagram, filled with jargon, arrows and boxes, which seemed to have been designed to be as confusing as possible. “For a start,” I would say, “ignore that […]
5th October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
New Oil from old Fields
Last week I was in Ţicleni in Gorj county to look at a major new British investment in Romania’s oil industry. Petrofac is one of the UK’s main suppliers of services in the oil industry, based in Aberdeen in Scotland. As of November 2010 it has taken a responsibility from Petrom for operating and developing […]
4th October 2011 Toronto, Canada
Science and Innovation Network Annual Report 2010-2011
The Science and Innovation Network’s Annual Report, covering activities from April 2010 to March 2011 inclusive, is out! You can download and read the report on the websites of both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, our parent ministries. You can see a collection of photographs from the report […]
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4th October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A Pact for Growth
Dr. Vince Cable, the UK’s Minister for Business, Skills and Innovation, came to Bucharest last week with a very clear message – the EU has got to get back on the path to sustainable long term growth. And that means doing what the EU does best – free trade. Romania and the UK are both […]
4th October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Between a Wall and a Hard Place
We stopped on a ridge overlooking a Palestinian valley. On the hill on the left a Jewish settlement with nest white houses and green gardens. On the right a fairly run-down Palestinian village. The valley was dry and stony sloping down to a water spring. Suddenly we saw a trail of smoke arching up into […]