Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

22nd December 2010 Ottawa, Canada

Guest Blog: Improving the impact of development research through better communication and uptake

In this post our guest blogger Elin Gwyn, a research analyst from OMAFRA, speaks to her experience attending the “Improving the impact of development research through better communication and uptake” workshop in London.  Over to Elin! Elin Gwyn On a frosty morning on November 29 I found myself crossing Westminster Bridge, looking down at the boats […]

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21st December 2010

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by Peter Beckingham

Former governor in Turks and Caicos Islands

A 350 km walk through the Indian countryside, £100,000 raised for charities – and memories for life

I am proud and a little relieved that my wife completed her trek in the footsteps of Gandhi. I am proud and a little relieved to write after my last blog that my wife completed her 350 kilometre trek in the footsteps of Gandhi’s famous Salt March of 1930 at the beginning of December. The […]

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19th December 2010

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by Greg Dorey

Diplomat

6 shopping days to Christmas, 12 to the Hungarian Presidency

I have spent the last week in cold, wet, snowy London and hope I am not going to be stuck here for too much longer by flight cancellations due to the snow. This is as a result of the huge, current level of interest in Hungary and how it is going to manage its EU […]

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17th December 2010

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by Leigh Turner

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

Public private partnerships

When the Lord Mayor of London visited Kyiv in September 2009 he drew attention to the immense expertise of British financial institutions in developing Public Private Partnership or PPP.  This is an arrangement where a private organisation assumes the risk of financing and building anything from a bridge to a hospital on the basis of […]

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16th December 2010

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Migration to the UK

The issue of immigration is an emotive one. In countries that are net recipients of migrants, such as my own, immigration is often high on the political agenda. At a time of economic recession, when every job counts, migrants are often accused of “taking away” the jobs of others born in the country but unemployed. […]

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16th December 2010

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by Leigh Turner

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

Holidays in Chernobyl

The UK and international press have reacted with intrigue to the suggestion that Chernobyl, site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, could be a new tourist hotspot.  In fact as some reports have noted, it has been possible to visit the site, along with the nearby abandoned Soviet-era city of Pripyat, for several years. I visited […]

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15th December 2010

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by Martin Harris

British Ambassador to Ukraine

Craiova: the advantages of British investment

I was in Craiova in early December to look at the climate for British investment. I visited one of the largest British investments in the region, the plant run by Cummins Generator Technologies which manufactures electrical generators in a joint venture with Electroputere Craiova. Cummins have installed new equipment and refurbished the existing machines at […]

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14th December 2010 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

Putting the “Universal” Back in the Universal Declaration

 Guest blog by John Fisher, ARC International* “It is not called the ‘Partial’ Declaration of Human Rights,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon underlined at a World Human Rights Day panel on Ending Violence and Criminal Sanctions based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.  “It is not the ‘Sometimes’ Declaration of Human Rights.” The Secretary General […]

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13th December 2010

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by Leigh Turner

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

Keeping Ukrainian families together

It’s not often that we charge people to enter my house.  But we make an exception when we host a charity reception in support of the Ukrainian charity EveryChild. Ukraine, like many other countries in Eastern Europe, continues to house large number of children in orphanages.  EveryChild, which was set up as the result of […]

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