8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
18th January 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia
Diary entry 26 August 2027
High up in Macedonia’s Shar Planina mountains the air tastes like champagne. And after five hours of drinking it in, our walk today has left us tired but happy. It’s great to be back in Macedonia. It is nine years since I walked in the Shar Planina. Back then, when I was serving as British […]
16th January 2017 Toronto, Canada
Leaders in the connected lane: UK and Canada look to make cars safer and smarter
Imagine being able to hop into a vehicle, tell it where you want to go, then be able to pull out your laptop and watch some TV, or get some work done on the way to your destination!
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16th January 2017 Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia
Volunteering for development: the double benefit
In December last year I had the thrill to meet Hiwot and her six month old baby boy in Hosanna hospital in Ethiopia. Hiwot had complications in her pregnancy that were life threatening for her son and for her. Luckily, VSO volunteer health specialists had worked with Ethiopian medical staff to establish a specialist care […]
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16th January 2017 New Delhi, India
A sociologist in a Chem lab!
I attended a workshop on nano- bio materials for water purification in the picturesque district of Kottayam in Kerala. It was a Newton Bhabha funded researcher link workshop led by British Council in collaboration with Royal Society of Chemistry. Researcher links workshop is one of the many programs run under the ‘people’ pillar of the […]
16th January 2017 London, UK
Why UK higher education is attractive to international students
International students play a fundamental role in the character of higher education in the UK. With 436,585 international students studying in UK universities in 2014-15, the UK is the second most popular destination in the world for international students. They contribute to a rich learning environment, and universities take a strong international student experience very seriously. This […]
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13th January 2017 London, UK
New Year’s Resolution – Giving up… time?
At this time of year I am reminded of Christmas 1989. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were executed. The eyes of the world were on Romania. The media focused on the infamous children’s homes – all in utter disrepair, filled with neglected, wide-eyed children in their cots. This was the moment when […]
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13th January 2017 Abuja, Nigeria
Weddings, Football and Checkpoints – Celebrating New Year in South East Nigeria
This Christmas was my turn to stay back in Abuja for Christmas while the family headed for London. I knew I would miss them terribly and so it was, but I did have the opportunity of attending a local staff member’s traditional wedding to look forward to. Aside from providing a fantastic insight into Igbo […]
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13th January 2017 Singapore
How the UK through the Prosperity Fund supported Thailand in its first Public Procurement Act
6,000,000,000 – The gravity of the number is more than the zeroes it carries. As highlighted in a research conducted by Transparency International in 2015, this figure refers to people living in countries that are seriously affected by corruption in the public sector. The results of the study clearly pointed out the crippling effects of […]
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13th January 2017 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Balancing the scales in the work place
A cross section of staff from the High Commission lighting the traditional oil lamp during New Year celebrations. The inaugural International ‘Parity at Work Day’ was celebrated on Wednesday in London. This new International Day champions workplace diversity, and recognises the importance that everyone – regardless of age, gender or sexual orientation – is given […]
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13th January 2017 Beijing, China
Beijing baby blue
Checking the air quality index is pretty much the first thing I do every morning. It’s funny how life is governed by a (hopefully) double digit number; when it goes into triple digits you’re in trouble. Christmas and New Year were a blur of pollution in our latest ‘airpocalypse’, not helped by the recent arrival […]