Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

27th January 2011

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Relations between Bolivia and Britain

In my New Year blog I set out the wide range of areas in which this Embassy is active in promoting good relations between our two countries. The recent visit of Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca to London provided an opportunity to further strengthen that relationship. The principal themes of the meetings in London were two […]

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27th January 2011 Ottawa, Canada

November Field Trip to Newfoundland

Welcome blog readers to our first billingual guest blog posting!  In this posting, Nicolina, our Science Officer in Montreal discusses her trip to Newfoudland, looking into renewable energy.  This blog was written by our guest blogger in french, and translated to english for the complete Canadian billingualism experience (french and english being Canada’s two official […]

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27th January 2011

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by Peter Beckingham

Former governor in Turks and Caicos Islands

‘Let’s show booming India that we know our onions!’ Boris Johnson

Two senior figures in British politics were in Mumbai in January – Vince Cable and Boris Johnson.                         Boris Johnson and Peter Beckingham Two senior figures in British politics were in Mumbai in January – Vince Cable, Cabinet Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, and Boris Johnson, The Mayor of London. They don’t […]

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26th January 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

Scottish soft power

252 years after the birth of Robert Burns – voted in a 2009 poll the greatest Scot of all time – I attend two very different events on a snowy Kyiv evening to mark Burns night. At the Gergel School in Pechersk, dozens of children of all ages in tartan-themed best clothes are celebrating in […]

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25th January 2011

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by Martin Harris

Minister and Deputy Head of Mission to Russia

Scottish Romantic celebrated in Romania

Today, 25 January, Scots around the world mark the birthday of Scotland’s greatest poet, Robert Burns. And not just Scots. Robert Burns is a poet with universal appeal. Like Romania’s national poet Mihai Eminescu, Burns was a Romantic whose poems describe experiences that we all share, and which have been translated into many different languages. […]

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24th January 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

Is Ukraine free?

Which is the country which is most free in the CIS?  Can we say confidently that it is Ukraine?  Or how about a new pretender to that crown – Moldova? There are many ways to measure freedom, some more objective than others.  As I noted in a recent blog on human rights, one can often […]

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24th January 2011 Ottawa, Canada

Our First British High Commission Science Salon with Special Guest: Dr. David Strangway!

One week ago today we had our inaugural Science Salon event!  What is a Science Salon you ask?  Well imagine trying to channel Bohemian France, with it’s parlours and poets and artists, into a science themed event, and there you have it – A Science Salon! The goal of these events is to bring people […]

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21st January 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

Why the Constitutional Court matters

In a recent blog on human rights in Ukraine I noted that the British embassy in Kyiv had supported projects to help a number of different constituent elements of the Ukrainian legal system including the Constitutional Court.  So I was delighted to have a chance recently to visit the Constitutional Court, and to meet the […]

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21st January 2011

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by Greg Dorey

Diplomat

New geothermal potential: from spas to energy

The British  Government aims to be the “greenest ever”. So it is no surprise that in recent official meetings – and we have many more visitors to Budapest than usual as a result of Hungary’s EU Presidency – UK Ministers and officials have raised the subject of renewable energy and Hungary’s geothermal potential. Thermal waters […]

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20th January 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

Swimming with icebergs

A guest blog from John Foreman, Defence Attache, British Embassy 19 January is Epiphany, an ancient Christian feast day which, in the Orthodox tradition, celebrates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan.  The people of Ukraine, as elsewhere in the region, celebrate this event by jumping into the cold waters […]

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