2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
14th October 2025
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
13th October 2025
UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls: September visits to Sarajevo and New York
16th March 2017 Vienna, Austria
Where is Europe’s largest motorcycle maker based?
Which is the most important economic powerhouse in Austria? Amongst the nine Austrian provinces, Vienna has the largest population, followed by Lower Austria and Upper Austria. But more international exports come from Upper Austria than from any other Austrian province. So when I visited Upper Austria recently, my first stop was at Europe’s biggest motor […]
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15th March 2017 Canberra, Australia
Hello, Adele, from the other side.
I watched you perform at the ANZ stadium in Sydney on Saturday night, with my 16 year old daughter and 94,998 other people. This was just one night in your multi-city Australia tour – your first time in this beautiful country, you said. Altogether, I reckon around 600,000 people will have seen you perform in Australia – […]
15th March 2017 Calgary, Canada
Canada: 8 bold women in Calgary
#BeBoldForChange was the theme for International Women’s Day on 8 March. So, I thought, what better way to celebrate March 8 than with 8 bold women.
14th March 2017 Guatemala City
A trek to the lost Mayan city of El Mirador, Part 1
Three years ago, when I first heard I was being posted to Guatemala, I spotted in the guide books a mention of a ruined Mayan city deep in the jungle which was only accessible by walking for five days there and back. I instantly decided I had to go there. And finally, last month, I […]
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13th March 2017 Geneva, Switzerland
Change in the Air
While there haven’t exactly been howls of protest about my online silence these last few weeks, the number of people asking what I’ve been up to rose to three on Friday (excluding my last boss who is clearly still keeping tabs on me from afar), so I feel a little sheepish and neglectful. The main reason […]
13th March 2017 London, UK
The Commonwealth is no Empire
When the recently elected Gambian President announced that he intended to take his country back into the Commonwealth (the previous president had withdrawn Gambia from the organisation), one of my twitter followers commented that Gambia was becoming a British colony again! For some in Turkey, the sun has never set on the British Empire. But […]
13th March 2017 UK, London
UK-China relations are going from strength to strength as we celebrate 45th anniversary
It is surprising to think that ambassadorial relations between the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China have been in place for just 45 years. Today, on the 45th anniversary, we see cooperation at an all-time high and a bilateral relationship going from strength to strength. The global partnership established during President Xi Jinping’s […]
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13th March 2017 Holy See
The Commonwealth and the Holy See
The Commonwealth and the Holy See represent the two largest soft power networks in the world. The Holy See has over 1.2 billion faithful globally, and a network of Bishops, NGOs and religious congregations which reach deep into the societies of the countries where they live. The Commonwealth is made up of 52 countries with […]
13th March 2017 Gaborone, Botswana
Celebrating the diverse partnership of nations that make up the modern Commonwealth
At primary school, I remember we used to have a large poster of the flags of the Commonwealth on the wall of the classroom. I used to daydream about what kids my age would be doing in those countries – what was their school day like? Were their teachers nice? Did they also hate sitting […]
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10th March 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia
How do you know that the taxes you pay are being spent wisely?
Here’s a question for the average person in Macedonia: how do you know that the taxes you pay are being spent wisely? It’s a simple question but actually on that’s quite difficult to answer. Some might be happy to just trust those spending your tax money. But others will want to be more questioning. They […]
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