3rd December 2024
RENEWING OLD TIES: THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
22nd February 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia
Në prag të vizitës në Maqedoni
Nga momenti që Mbretëria e Bashkuar votoi të largohet nga Bashkimin Evropian, njerëzit që i kam takuar jashtë shtetit shpesh më kanë pyetur të njëjtën pyetje: Çfarë do të thotë kjo për vendin tim? Përgjigjja ime është gjithmonë e njëjta, Mbretëria e Bashkuar largohet nga Bashkimi Europian por nuk e lëshon Europën. Në vizitën time […]
22nd February 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia
Ahead of my visit to Macedonia
Since the UK voted to leave the European Union, I am often asked the same question by the people I meet overseas: What does this mean for my country? Every time my answer is the same, the UK will be leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe. On my first visit to […]
21st February 2017 London, UK
0 to 50 in 3 years
Many of us have had second-hand cars that take that long to get from 0 to 50! But add a “K” to the 50 and you have a description of the British Ambassador to Turkey, Richard Moore’s Twitter journey since he arrived in Turkey in January 2014. Richard was recently proclaimed by Turkey’s biggest selling […]
21st February 2017 Vienna, Austria
Up and down the mountain: a guide to Tyrolean Dialect
My introductory video from last September noted the importance of visiting all parts of Austria; and of the dialects spoken in different regions. You can watch me attempting to learn the wonderful and challenging Tyrolean dialect in the video above. Clearly it’s easier in a snowstorm; up a mountain; in the cable-car going down; or, […]
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20th February 2017 Geneva, Switzerland
Championing Trade
Any day now, something called the Trade Facilitation Agreement will enter into force. There will be no meeting of Presidents, no gala summit. World leaders are unlikely to give speeches. And yet it will unlock economic opportunities for millions of people around the world, reduce poverty and spur economic development. It is estimated that the […]
20th February 2017 London, UK
When it comes to TV and film, Britain has got it all
Watching a gripping drama play out on a cinema screen can be transporting, taking your imagination on a journey to places new, exciting and unexplored. But what about when a film literally takes you somewhere, when you can walk onto the set? Film – and, increasingly, television – is a growing driver of tourism in […]
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16th February 2017 Montreal, Canada
From Blackberries to basketball: why we work with Canada in science
The answer likely isn’t obvious, but both were either discovered or invented by a Canadian researcher. The former relates to the 2015 Noble Prize in Physics awarded to Prof. Arthur MacDonald, whereas the latter is the game invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith.
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16th February 2017 Vienna, Austria
More about that Tyrolean Squirrel’s Tail
The wind is whistling at the top of the Hungerbergbahn. But my teacher is encouraging. ‘It’s bärig,’ she says. ‘Innsbruck ist bärig’ (‘Innsbruck is terrific’). I repeat; and repeat; and repeat again. I’ve written before about the variety of Austria. A country dissected by great mountains and steep valleys has developed, over centuries, a patchwork of […]
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16th February 2017 London, UK
Researching user research
(User research in project phases – courtesy of Leisa Reichelt) One of the first tasks I was given upon joining the Digital Transformation Unit within the Foreign Office was devising a strategy for user research. User research is at the heart of digitising government services. Everything we do should be designed with the user in […]
15th February 2017 Holy See
Tackling Modern Slavery together
Last week Offer Stern-Weiner, Head of the Modern Slavery Unit at the Home Office, and I journeyed out of Rome to visit a small and tranquil convent in a historic town set in the beautiful Italian countryside. The reason we were there? To meet five young Nigerian women who had been trafficked from Nigeria to […]