19th September 2013 Havana, Cuba
Thankfully not all of the 150,000 Brits who come to Cuba each year on holiday write to me asking for advice on where to go fishing. Earlier this summer, I received the following letter: ‘Dear Ambassador I am eagerly anticipating a visit to your adopted country from the 22nd June in company with four friends. We […]
23rd August 2013 London, UK
Visualising the FCO’s travel advice data: It’s the holiday season, and as millions of people head off on their travels the importance of a single source of authoritative and accurate travel advice becomes particularly relevant… Read more >>
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12th June 2013
Honorary Consuls from Australia, New Zealand and Samoa gathered in Brisbane for their annual conference and briefing on latest developments in our consular policy. I gave them an update on the current state of bilateral relations. These are local residents in cities where we do not have a consular office, who volunteer to help support […]
20th May 2013 Beirut, Lebanon
It is good to see the waves of British visitors in Lebanon this Summer. British Airways are laying on extra flights, the Hay Festival has just been, and we have several brands – Jack Jones, Marks and Spencer, Virgin Radio, Ted Baker – opening in the coming weeks. This is exactly the relationship we want […]
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28th March 2013
Because of its fantastic tourist attractions, from the Great Barrier Reef to the Gold Coast, many of the 640,000 Brits who come to Australia each year visit Queensland. The vast majority of visits are completely trouble-free, but the sheer volume means that our Consular team in Brisbane are kept busy. Some people get ill, or […]
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19th March 2013
I was struck by a recent newspaper article saying that British nationals had bought over 1,300 properties in Turkey in the last nine months. Only German nationals (2,557) had bought more. It was a useful reminder of the strengths of the links between Turkey and the UK. Around 35,000 British nationals are resident in Turkey, […]
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9th August 2012 Washington DC, USA
As a Londoner, I have to admit that sometimes Londoners can be cynical. As we left for the US last November, we left our friends muttering about anticipated congestion and transport angst and plans to let out their houses to Olympic-crazed tourists and spend the month in Florida. However, from the moment the fabulous opening […]
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25th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
I guess everyone has a mental image of a place, born from reading books or watching films and TV. So when I travelled to Miami to meet up with the British Consul General, Kevin McGurgan, and his remarkable team, the tropical storm that greeted the plane when it tried to land the first time took […]
14th December 2011
I had the very pleasant experience today of conducting my first Citizenship Ceremony, in which we conferred British citizenship on seven people at the High Commission in Canberra. They were all Australians who were acquiring citizenship through family links or through naturalisation after living in the UK for some time. It used to be the case […]
9th August 2011 Toronto, Canada
This is John Preece bringing you another SIN infographic, this time courtesy of new data from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The FCO is the government department responsible for British interests outside of Britain, and it has three priorities: Keep Britain safe, make Britain prosperous and support British nationals overseas (the Science and Innovation […]
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