Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

31st October 2017 Vienna, Austria

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by Leigh Turner

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

My year in Vienna: what has changed?

A bloke in a leather jacket stands on a sunny railway platform, looking forward to starting a new job. Excited to be on my way from Salzburg today to take up my posting in #Vienna pic.twitter.com/S4oSK0J1TJ — Leigh Turner (@LeighTurnerFCO) August 27, 2016 I started as British Ambassador to Vienna and UK Permanent Representative to […]

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27th October 2017

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by Edward Ferguson

British Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia

Every child needs a family

Autumn has come, and so my wife Caroline is busy organising this year’s Diplomatic Winter Bazaar, BiH’s biggest charity event.  Last year, around 15,000 people crowded into Skenderija to eat, drink, play and shop at the stands manned by 40 Embassies as well as over 70 local NGOs and businesses. Thanks to generous sponsorship, including […]

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27th October 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia

Paul Edwards

Paul Edwards

Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy Skopje

Why carve a lion-man?

Photo credit BBC webpage, Lion Man Living With The Gods: The Beginnings of Belief. (© Museum Ulm, photo: Oleg Kuchar, Ulm)

In his BBC radio series “living with the gods”, the British historian Neil MacGregor looks back at religious items of the past.  His story begins in a cave some 35 to 40 thousand years ago. In that cave a Stone Age man or woman sits with a woolly mammoth tusk in her hands. Her life and […]

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27th October 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia

Paul Edwards

Paul Edwards

Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy Skopje

Зошто некој би направил човек-лав?

Photo credit BBC webpage, Lion Man Living With The Gods: The Beginnings of Belief. (© Museum Ulm, photo: Oleg Kuchar, Ulm)

Во неговите емисии на Би-Би-Си радио „живот со боговите“ британскиот историчар Нил Мекрегор раскажува за религизионите предмети од минатото. Неговата приказна започнува во пештера пред некои 35 до 40 000 години. Во таа пештера,  маж или жена од каменото време седи со заб од волнест мамут во своите раце. Нејзиниот живот и животите на луѓето […]

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27th October 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia

Paul Edwards

Paul Edwards

Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy Skopje

Përse të gdhendish njeri luan

Photo credit BBC webpage, Lion Man Living With The Gods: The Beginnings of Belief. (© Museum Ulm, photo: Oleg Kuchar, Ulm)

Historiani britanik Neil MacGregor në BBC serialin e tij në radio “Të jetosh me perënditë”, rikthehet në artikujt fetarë të së kaluarës. Historia e tij fillon në një shpellë rreth 35 deri në 40 mijë vjet më parë. Në atë shpellë, një burrë/grua i/e epokës së gurit, ulet duke mbajtur çatallin e mamuthit të leshtë. Jeta […]

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23rd October 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia

Nadire Latifi

Nadire Latifi

Chevening scholar from Macedonia 2016/2017

The 10 Downing Street impressions of a Chevening scholar from Macedonia

The Chevening programme does not only help its scholars complete their dreams – it offers them the possibility to experience the undreamed. More than financial support, this scholarship gave me a prestigious identity along with many privileges and opportunities. One of them was definitely the exclusive chance to visit 10 Downing Street, the residence and […]

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19th October 2017 Vienna, Austria

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by Leigh Turner

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

Journey to the Centre of the Earth – in Styria

The tunnel is steep: I clutch a rope and lower myself towards an aluminium ladder below.  Water drips, gathering in pools.  Yet when I reach the bottom, a beautifully-carved stone passageway curves around a corner. The tunnels and menhirs of eastern Styria (Steiermark) are remarkable.  According to the research body Sub Terra Vorau, around 790 […]

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18th October 2017 Tokyo, Japan

Emilie Didier

by Emilie Didier

Science and Innovation Officer (Japan)

Ultrasonic Robots! UK-Japan joint project helps Fukushima

In March, 2011, following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, there was a major nuclear incident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. This left Japan with a significant nuclear decommissioning challenge. There are several challenges to decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi reactor units, one of the most important being locating and understanding the nature […]

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11th October 2017 Geneva, Switzerland

by Julian Braithwaite

Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva

A Milestone in the UK’s WTO Transition

Nearly a year ago British ministers agreed a plan for the UK’s transition in the World Trade Organization as it leaves the EU. The goal was to establish the UK’s position in the WTO by 29 March 2019 in a way that minimized any disruption, by replicating as far as possible the UK’s current trade […]

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11th October 2017 Canberra, Australia

Cate Setterfield

Cate Setterfield

Science and Innovation Officer

Space cooperation: the next frontier

As part of the UK Science and Innovation Network I get to work on some pretty cool stuff; a colleague once described my job as “nerd in residence”. Working on space research collaboration is definitely a highlight; and when I heard that the world’s largest space conference was coming to Australia, I jumped at the […]

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