UK in Serbia

19th April 2022 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

This is What Human Tragedy Looks Like

We Stand With Ukraine

This joint article by Ambassadors Rafal Perl (Poland), Giles Norman (Canada) and Sian MacLeod (UK) first appeared in Serbian in ‘Nedeljnik’ on 14 April 2022. This week Protestant and Catholic churches around the world mark the darkest, most solemn days in the Christian year followed by celebration of Easter and hope for the future.  Next […]

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28th March 2022 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

The myth of russophobia

shostakovich pasternak

People around the world have watched in horror and disbelief as Russian military hardware wreaks death and destruction across Ukraine. Moscow’s decision to launch a brutal and bloody war is illegal and unjustified. It is unsurprising that the world has moved quickly to condemn the invasion, and actions such as targeting of maternity hospitals and […]

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18th March 2022 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Turning back the clock: the Kremlin’s war on truth

Novaya Gazeta

A Russian-British journalist friend, speaking on air this week, observed that ‘violence and propaganda go hand in hand’. He suggested that people accept propaganda and lies because of fear, and because the truth is too terrible to contemplate. Perhaps that helps explain the attempts of Russian representatives who had no part in the decision, to […]

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2nd March 2022 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Ukraine: a choice between right and wrong

The world watched with horror as Vladimir Putin ordered his armed forces to launch an unprovoked, unjustified and illegal attack upon Ukraine. People all around the world have witnessed with admiration the extraordinary calm courage shown by the people of Ukraine. As a young diplomat I first travelled to Ukraine in the late 1980s. I was in Moscow […]

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8th February 2021 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Boycie and Baldrick Get a Shot in the Arm

In this strangest of years, international cooperation has taken on a different aspect.   Border closures, quarantine and testing regimes have never before been part of my daily diplomatic vocabulary. Though as a well travelled diplomat vaccination has long played a small but important part in my professional life.    The world faces a common challenge that […]

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22nd January 2021 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Counting COVID

Online Diplomat 13

This is the first blogcast I have recorded for several weeks. This is mainly because I had to travel to the UK for family reasons – a journey that was a story in itself. But there is another reason too. I have been spending my evenings doing an online training course. Diplomacy is a career […]

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21st December 2020 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

The Online Diplomat 12

My mother was one of four sisters. Her favourite book was also a tale about four sisters, Louisa Alcott’s ‘Little Women’. Right up until the end of her long  life, though almost blind, my mother could still read and recognise its famous first line:   ‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents’.    For many, many […]

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27th November 2020 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Bad Air Days and Silver Linings

The global skies have been pretty dark metaphorically over past months.  They have been pretty gloomy too here literally for much of the time. I’m lucky enough to look out of my window in Belgrade at trees and sky. Sadly though that view is often rather murky, with visibility limited to the great oak trees at the end of my […]

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13th November 2020 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Time Like an Ever Rolling Stream

This has been a solemn week in what has been a desperately sad month in a desperately sad year. On 11 November the UK like many other countries commemorates Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, which originally marked the guns falling silent at the end of the First World War.  Every country has its own way […]

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6th November 2020 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Tea with Everything: A Diplomatic Week

Tea

Diplomacy is never a 9-5 job and, however much we like to plan,  it is rarely possible to predict exactly how your time will be spent in any given week. The coronavirus pandemic has added to the unpredictability.  One thing is certain though: my week will involve drinking a lot of tea. In my blogcast three weeks […]

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