19th June 2017
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Honours List this month included Lynn Stanier, the founder of Their Future Today, a British charity in Sri Lanka supporting some of the most vulnerable children and families in society. She was awarded an MBE for this work, which she describes below. I was in complete shock! The High Commissioner […]
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4th April 2017
Colombo, Sri Lanka
It’s 20 years since Princess Diana walked through a minefield in Angola and changed the way we think about land mines. And it’s 20 years since the Ottawa Convention banning their use was concluded. But mines and unexploded ordnance still cause indiscriminate destruction and hinder development in over 63 countries and territories around the world […]
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15th September 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Democracy is the best path to long term peace, stability and sustainable development. It doesn’t just mean elections, though they are important too. It’s about having a say in the decisions that affect us, independent institutions that function as they were intended to and rule of law that upholds our human rights and protects us […]
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18th August 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Since arriving in Sri Lanka, I have become a bit of an expert on visas. In fact, when my phone rings, there’s almost a one in two chance that someone is calling about their visa. Getting a visa can be complex, frustrating and time-consuming. My colleagues in UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) work really hard […]
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19th July 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
My blogs are usually about links between the UK and Sri Lanka. Today it’s the turn of some of the less sung heroes, those who work or volunteer in Sri Lanka’s charitable sector. I’m focusing on two long-standing partners of the High Commission, CAL and MENCAFEP, who just two of the many good people are […]
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12th July 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
It was a career first for me on Sunday, when I found myself selecting knickers for Her Majesty The Queen. No lèse-majesté this, rather part of the celebrations of the 210th anniversary of the building of the Governor’s Palace at Mount Lavinia. This included a literary festival, featuring British authors who have written about or been […]
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23rd June 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Colombo is reaching the end of a three week celebration of PRIDE activities. The events, largely coordinated by Equal Ground, included a Rainbow Bus Parade, a pop quiz, a Film Festival at the British Council and a kite festival – an appropriately diverse range of ways to draw attention to an important human right, the […]
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17th June 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Last night, we hosted a very special event at the High Commissioner’s residence: a party to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th birthday. Over 400 friends of the High Commission, from Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the UK, from Government to civil society to the private sector, gathered to toast the longest reigning monarch in […]
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17th May 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
“It’s Mental Health Awareness week this week, and we’ve taken the opportunity to reflect on a recent mental health consular case the team has been supporting. A few weeks ago, a British National came for a holiday of a lifetime to the Maldives. This person had a pre-existing mental health condition, but did not inform […]
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3rd May 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Today is World Press Freedom Day. So it was appropriate that I spent Saturday evening at the Sri Lanka Inquirer awards ceremony, an event celebrating the culmination of British High Commission funded training and some of the best recent investigative journalism in Sri Lanka and Maldives. There is no freedom so worth defending as Freedom of […]
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