8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
23rd March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Romanian and UK contributions to operations in Libya
Romania’s decision yesterday to contribute to NATO operations enforcing the arms embargo on Libya is very welcome news. NATO is engaged in an operation to protect the civilian population in Libya against the Qadhafi regime. As our Prime Minister has said, this action is necessary, legal and right. It is necessary to prevent Qadhafi from […]
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22nd March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Down Syndrome: "Let Us In!"
Imagine a child knocking on a door and being let in by a smiling family or friend. That’s the scene from a moving film presented by the charity Down Syndrome Education International, featuring children from dozens of countries including the UK and Ukraine. I watch the film with a roomful of guests at a World […]
22nd March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Impressions of Australia
It has been a hectic eight weeks since I took up my post as High Commissioner in Canberra. I was delighted to be coming to a great country which I had visited quite a few times and where I had family connections (two of my Mum’s sisters had emigrated here as “ten pound poms”). On […]
22nd March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Libya
As I write, British military forces are engaged – with partners from many other countries – in enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973 over Libya. No country takes military action lightly. It is always a last resort. But as I wrote in La Razon on 22 March, the United Kingdom believes that the action to […]
21st March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Human rights – no laughing matter?
59 years in jail, reduced to 35 years, for satire? It sounds like a bad joke. But this is the sentence handed down by the regime in Burma in 2008 to popular comedian Maung Thura, better known as Zarganar. And his case is a good example of why the international community continues to call on […]
21st March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Brilliant British Business in Ukraine
:For a few days last week the centre of Kyiv turned British. The “British Business Days in Ukraine” running from 17-19 March included: a business-to-business debate chaired by TV presenter Andriy Kulykov with business leaders Petro Poroshenko (businessman, politician and head of National Bank Council) Mohammed Zahoor (Head of Istil Group), Roger Munnings (Catalyst UK) […]
21st March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Making Doha a bigger priority
I had the pleasure of going to the Washington International Trade Association discussion about the 2011 Congressional Trade Agenda. It was an opportunity for the DC trade community to hear direct from key Congressional trade staffers what trade issues they thought would be keeping Congress busy this year. It was an off-the-record discussion, so I’ll […]
21st March 2011 Bucharest, Romania
Over 1,000 friends on Facebook – thank you!
The British Embassy official Facebook channel has reached over 1,000 friends since its launch last September. This is great news to us, the Communications team, and to the other embassy colleagues. We are grateful for your interest in our work, and for your contributions and comments. Let us know what your favourite topics are, and […]
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18th March 2011 Ottawa, Canada
Our New SIN Intern at the Toronto Consulate General: John Preece
I’d like to introduce everyone to the newest member of our team, Dr. John Preece. John, who will introduce himself to you directly below, is our intern in Toronto. He has tons of interesting varied experience and has thrown himself enthusiastically into the SIN portfolio, starting with a blog (of which there are already more […]
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17th March 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Counting down
A few weeks ago I promised that we would be marking 500 days to go to the 2012 Olympics on 16 March. The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that this date was in fact 499 days from the Olympics (and 532 from the Paralympics). The reason was that 15 March is an important national […]