9th April 2026
The Gulf, Berlin and the Commission on the Status of Women: building global alliances to advance women’s progress
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
26th February 2026
Different Memories, Shared Futures: Why Inclusive Remembrance Matters for Serbia and the Region
22nd December 2025
Continuing to grow the global alliance for women and girls
19th April 2018 London, UK
British Ambassador’s speech at the Queen’s Birthday Party in Abu Dhabi
Your Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen Welcome! And thank you for joining this celebration. Your Highness, Sheikh Nahayan Mubarak Al Nahayan, Minister for Tolerance, it is a great honour that you are here with us again this year. And the honour is all the greater because this is your fourth visit to this garden […]
Read more on British Ambassador’s speech at the Queen’s Birthday Party in Abu Dhabi | Reply (1)
18th April 2018 Shanghai
Launch of UK-China Antimicrobial resistance competition
I heard some worrying news about gonorrhoea recently. Thankfully this wasn’t a personal diagnosis, but I read in the press that a British man has been the first to be diagnosed with a new strain of ‘super-gonorrhoea’. This strain is so far resistant to all antibiotics usually used to treat the disease. This case illustrates […]
Read more on Launch of UK-China Antimicrobial resistance competition | Reply
17th April 2018
Does Russia support the rules based international system at all?
Modern chemical weapons were first deployed in the First World War. It took the international community 80 years to agree international rules for restraining their use. Within 21 years, 95% of chemical weapons stockpiles had been destroyed. This was an astonishing, global achievement and the OPCW was rightly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. […]
Read more on Does Russia support the rules based international system at all? | Reply
17th April 2018 London, UKCanberra, Australia
The Commonwealth: Passing the baton
This month is all about the Commonwealth. We are on the cusp between the end of the (fantastic) Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, and the start of the Commonwealth Summit (also known as CHOGM – Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting) on 16-20 April, when the baton will be handed, metaphorically, to the UK as […]
13th April 2018 Harare, Zimbabwe
Death of the world’s last male northern white rhino
The death of the last northern white male rhino Sudan on March 19 in Kenya sent the world into mourning. When Sudan was born in South Sudan in 1972 there were around 1,000 northern white rhinos left in the wild. Now there are only two left, both females.
Read more on Death of the world’s last male northern white rhino | Reply (2)
12th April 2018 Vienna, Austria
“Russia and the West: a new Cold War? Who is responsible?”
If you have followed recent discussion over the case of the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury using a military grade nerve agent, you may find interesting the programme “Russia and the West: a new Cold War? Who is responsible?” transmitted on Austrian broadcaster Puls 4 on 11 April. In the programme […]
Read more on “Russia and the West: a new Cold War? Who is responsible?” | Reply
12th April 2018 Morocco, Rabat
A memorable climb to Mount Toubkal
Leaving the beautiful Kasbah Toubkal, like the Last Homely House at Rivendell we walked off into the hills, over low-slung bridges, the brown flood-water gurgling round their feet along increasingly muddy paths, past villages clinging impossibly to terraces hanging off vertiginous cliffs, the mules carrying our trekking sacks and climbing gear making easy going of […]
10th April 2018 Wellington, New Zealand
Henderson Island: plastic pollution in paradise
Henderson Island is one of the most remote islands in the world. Uninhabited, and largely untouched, it was recently found to have the highest density of plastics pollution anywhere in the world. So what has happened, and what can we do about it? Henderson is one of four Pitcairn Islands and lies bang in the […]
Read more on Henderson Island: plastic pollution in paradise | Reply (5)
10th April 2018 Abuja, Nigeria
Midline Evaluation of DFID Funded Child Development Grant Programme reveals Positive Impact of Cash transfers on Child Nutrition in Northern Nigeria
On March 7th 2018, Oxford Policy Management (OPML) presented to over 80 key stakeholders in Abuja, the midline findings of the mixed-methods evaluation of the DFID-funded Child Development Grant Programme (CDGP). The CDGP programme is a six-year pilot cash transfer programme that aims to improve child and maternal health in two states of Northern Nigeria. […]
Read more on Midline Evaluation of DFID Funded Child Development Grant Programme reveals Positive Impact of Cash transfers on Child Nutrition in Northern Nigeria | Reply
10th April 2018 Tripoli, Libya
“Who lives sees, but who travels sees more” Ibn Battuta
When I became British Ambassador to Libya over a month ago, I promised to travel and meet people from across Libya. Only by living in Libya, as I do, and by meeting people from across the country can a diplomat truly understand Libya and the challenges we must face together. In the past few weeks […]
Read more on “Who lives sees, but who travels sees more” Ibn Battuta | Reply (2)