25th June 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
I leave Macedonia today after a fascinating three years as Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Skopje. There have been many developments across the political and economic spectrum during that time. I have had the pleasure of working with a dynamic team within this Embassy, and developed our cooperation in the fields […]
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2nd June 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
This is not a political slogan. It is the title of an exhibition that the UK Parliament is hosting in celebration of 800 years of Magna Carta. The exhibition commissioned nine artists to produce banners for the historic and beautiful Westminster Hall, celebrating key moments along our journey to modern democracy. If you are not able to visit it in person, you can see the exhibition […]
29th May 2015
I was delighted to spend a couple of hours recently with top Turkish journalist and photographer Ercan Arslan. Ercan had come across my Twitter account @leighturnerFCO and the series #reasonstolikeIstanbul, now at #373. He asked if we could visit a few of the places I’d tweeted about. The result was a piece published in the […]
1st March 2015 Skopje, North Macedonia
On Sunday 1 March along with Welsh citizens around the World, I will celebrate St David’s Day. Tradition has it that St David, or Dewi Saint in the Welsh language, died on this day in 569AD and from the 18th Century he was adopted as the Patron Saint of Wales, and the date celebrated as […]
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30th November 2014 Skopje, North Macedonia
The people of Scotland account for 8,3 % of the total UK population. Today, Scotland marks its national day – St Andrew’s Day. It’s a chance to really celebrate all that is great about our heritage and culture – our people, our food, and our skills, many of which have been passed on through generation […]
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25th November 2014 Skopje, North Macedonia
Hopefully you will see a lot of orange today as the United Nations has chosen the colour to symbolize a brighter future without violence against women. 25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence start today to raise awareness about the fight to […]
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18th August 2014 Budapest, Hungary
Guest blog by Ben Luckock, Head of Policy Team at the British Embassy in Budapest. Having read Theresa’s account of her two days at Sziget (Day1 and Day2), it was with great enthusiasm that I headed down to the Island of Freedom on Friday afternoon. Much of the mud had dried up and the […]
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15th August 2014 Budapest, Hungary
Guest blog by Theresa Bubbear, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Budapest. On Thursday the team and I headed back to Sziget for day 2 of our Embassy engagement. Budapest thoughtfully provided some British festival weather for us – it poured almost all day, and the mud came up as the rain came […]
15th August 2014 Skopje, North Macedonia
Some of you that are reading this blog post might be young professionals, public servants, leading or working in civil society organisations, enthusiasts about business and innovation, or maybe you see yourselves as future leaders in Macedonia? You might also be thinking about spending a year abroad, developing your skills in a quality international environment. […]
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14th August 2014 Budapest, Hungary
Guest blog by Theresa Bubbear, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Budapest. In 2012 I blogged about my first experience of Sziget. Yesterday I went back to see what was happening and what had changed. This year’s festival is bigger and better than ever, with 400,000 visitors expected and some top […]