Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

1st June 2011

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by Martin Harris

British Ambassador to Ukraine

Our Partnership for Growth

President Basescu will visit London next week for talks with David Cameron. High on their agenda will be economic growth [*ro, PDF brochure 871 KB, new window]. This question is now urgent. Both our countries are emerging from recession, but the recovery is slow. Growth is forecast to be around 1.7% in the UK this […]

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31st May 2011 Ottawa, Canada

Andy Hopper Speaks to Innovation from the Re$earch Money Conference in Ottawa

More follow-up from the Re$earch Money conference! Dr. Andy Hopper, Professor Computer Science, University of Cambridge, UK was invited to participate in a panel at the recent Re$earch Money conference, entitled: Pushing the Envelope: Exemplary Practices in Supporting Business Innovation.  He spoke to the role the University has played in helping to create and promote […]

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29th May 2011

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by Peter Millett

Ambassador to Libya, Tripoli

The Beautiful Game

Last night’s Champions’ League final saw some of the best football this year.  It flowed, the passing and the tactics were clever and the goals were a spectacular display of individual skill and talent. Barcelona clearly deserved to win playing some superb attractive attacking football.  In Amman I saw lots of Barcelona flags and a […]

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27th May 2011

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

London calling

London was looking beautiful in the sunshine when I travelled there for the annual conference of all our ambassadors earlier this month. The Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor all came to tell us what they expected from our network of embassies around the world. William Hague announced a significant strengthening of our footprint in […]

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27th May 2011 Toronto, Canada

Excellence in UK research

This is John Preece guestblogging about another question we at SIN get asked quite often – excellence in UK research. British universities consistently undertake world-class science, receiving over 12 % of all citations to published papers and 10 % of internationally-recognised prizes each year with just 1 % of the world’s population. This assiduous output […]

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25th May 2011

Robin Twyman

by Robin Twyman

Consul for Business and Government Affairs

British businesses appreciate doing things "The American Way" at Nascar

The following is a guest blog by Spencer Mahony, HM Consul & UKTI Regional Director for the South East US, British Embassy Washington Any idea what the hottest destination for UK motor sport companies is after Formula 1? Despite the All-American feel, it is actually the multi-billion dollar Nascar racing industry.  After my visit to […]

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23rd May 2011

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Visit Britain

I don’t usually write about my holidays in this blog, and I won’t make an exception now.  But by way of illustrating what terrific places there are to go on holiday in the UK, check out the photos below of Lundy Island, in the south west of England, where I recently spent a few days […]

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19th May 2011

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by Martin Harris

British Ambassador to Ukraine

The Magic of Maramures

There’s a sacred island off the west coast of Scotland called Iona that was once described as a ‘thin place’ –  one where the layer that separates heaven from earth is especially slim. The same can be said of Maramures. There are many things that impressed me about this region of Romania, hidden away in […]

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