8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
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Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
24th September 2010 London, UK
A video blog from Stockholm
I decided to use video alone for this week’s blog. View the film to find out about my trip to Sweden on the 7th June. Updated to say, here’s a link to ‘Getting Europe back to work’, the speech I delivered whilst in Stockholm
24th September 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Presenting credentials at the Cotroceni Palace
The post of Ambassador is no ordinary job. For most jobs you do an interview, sign a contract, show up at the office and get down to work. I did an interview for this job, but that was over a year ago in London. Once I was selected for it, I became a piece of […]
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24th September 2010 London, UK
Moldova and Romania
This week I travelled with my friend, German Minister for Europe, Werner Hoyer, to Moldova and Romania. In both Moldova and Romania we discussed the important issue of Transnistria. Whilst in Romania I met with economy Ministers to talk about the European single market, and energy security. To find out more, and to hear Werner […]
23rd September 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Romania-Britain: Let’s get married
Who is the greatest diplomat of all time? Metternich – master of the Congress of Vienna? Titulescu, the engineer of ‘entente’? Or perhaps Kissinger who took Nixon to China? No. The greatest diplomat of all time is Cupid. This cheeky cherub has done more for the cause of international relations than all the worlds’ diplomatic […]
22nd September 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Scotching tariffs
Whisky is the UK’s top agriculture export – £3.2bn-worth of whisky flowed out of the UK in 2008, accounting for just under a quarter of the UK’s agriculture exports (see Agriculture in the UK 2009). And the US was the top export market, sipping £421m worth of the stuff in 2009, a whopping 13% increase […]
21st September 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Three religious ceremonies bring colour and fervour to the streets and beaches of Mumbai
A group of UK students visiting Mumbai in August heard from one lecturer that the city was a “melting pot” or a “mosaic” of different religions. If they had been able to stay on until September the students would have seen for themselves a graphic and vivid demonstration of the lecturer’s words springing to life. […]
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20th September 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Video blog: Minister for Europe in Romania
Today is an important day for the relationship between Romania and the UK – for several reasons. We have the first visitor from the new government in London arriving in Bucharest this evening. To find out more about the visit I’ve recorded a video message which you can find below, together with a transcript, in […]
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17th September 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Can Ukraine learn from the Stasi?
Want to see how a Berlin schoolgirl volunteered to work with the East German State Security Ministry (Stasi)? How Dynamo Dresden striker Peter Kotte was relegated to the 7th Division in 1980 on suspicion of wanting to flee to the West? Or how a West Berlin member of parliament tricked a woman engineer from Leipzig […]
16th September 2010 Ottawa, Canada
Upcoming Field Trip to Sudbury!
So on my quest as a Science & Innovation Officer for HMG to a) inform people of the UK Science and Innovation Network (in Canada and abroad) and b) to identify really cool cutting edge Canadian science, I’m off next week on a field trip to Sudbury, Ontario! View Larger Map Many of you who have been […]
16th September 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Visit to the Bear Sanctuary, Zarnesti
Our very first weekend in Romania was a long one. The UK has a “bank holiday” on the last Monday in August so the Embassy was closed, giving us the chance to avoid the heavy traffic and drive up to Brasov on Sunday, back on Monday. Specifically we wanted to show our three girls – […]