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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
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Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
28th March 2011 Bucharest, Romania
How to avoid Mass Market Scams
Hello everybody, Swapping from green work to floods to e-fraud, I thought I would draw your attention to some useful info I picked up from the British Embassy in Ukraine on how to avoid Mass Market Scams. Have you been victims to such scams or on-line fraud?
28th March 2011 Bucharest, Romania
Floods in Romania
Dear friends, You may have heard about the recent devastating floods affecting Romania. This is not news anymore, as various regions of the country have been hit by floods or otherwise extreme drought in the last 3 or 4 years – what more compelling argument do we need to really focus on the effects of […]
28th March 2011 Bucharest, Romania
Meet the Communications team!
Hi again, Not a specific subject today, but I thought you may want to meet us at our workplace and put a face to a name. Let us know what you think!
28th March 2011 Bucharest, Romania
How to run a clean, lean, green Embassy machine
I chose to dedicate my first “corporate” blog entry to the Embassy green work as the subject is so closed to my heart – my academic background is a combination of Journalism and Chemical Engineering, and so I have been an avid supporter of environmental protection. It is an impressive accomplishment to see how Romania […]
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28th March 2011 Bucharest, Romania
Launch of Google Earth ‘4 degree map’
The British Government has just launched an interactive map that highlights some of the possible impacts of a global temperature rise of 4 degrees Celsius. This is an interesting approach to flag up once again why the UK Government and other countries believe we must keep global warming to 2 degrees Celsius: because beyond that […]
28th March 2011 Bucharest, Romania
E-government@work!
The British cabinet has launched an e-government initiative asking Facebook users to have a say on how government could make savings in public spending. What do you think about this initiative? Do you have any ideas to share with us? Looking forward for your comments,
28th March 2011 Bucharest, Romania
People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care
A powerful statement from one of my role models, leadership educator John Maxwell. I was one of the approximately 1,000 people who attended his leadership seminar in Bucharest last Wednesday, 23 March. A rare opportunity to see (and shake hands with!) the author of many of my favourite books on personal development. I hear often […]
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27th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Why I shouldn’t watch The Boat Race
How much would it be worth Oxford paying me to watch next year’s boat race against Cambridge? Or how much would Cambridge be prepared to pay to stop me watching? It’s Saturday night in Kyiv and the Oxbridge alumni of the city are gathered at the Golden Gate pub (next to the eponymous 1037 Kyiv […]
27th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
اختبار اللغة العربية
هناك اعتقاد شائع بأن حياة الدبلوماسي هي حياة ترف واسترخاء: شوكولاتة فيريرو روشيه وحفلات الكوكتيل. و يا ليت كان ذلك صحيحا. إن أحد جوانب عملنا في الخارج و الذي نادرا ما يراه الآخرين هو الجهد الذي نبذله في تعلم اللغات. وفوق كل الدراسة فإنه علينا أن نتقدم للامتحان. نعم، حتى السفير يجب أن يخضع للامتحانات: […]
27th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Testing Arabic
There is a popular perception that a diplomat’s life is one of luxury and relaxation: all Ferrero Rocher and cocktail parties. If only that were true. One aspect of our work abroad that is rarely seen is the effort we put into learning languages. And on top of studies, we have to take exams. Yes, […]