6th June 2022 Belgrade, Serbia
What is happening in Ukraine can be no less shocking to people in Serbia than to people in Canada, Norway, Poland, the UK – or anywhere else including Russia, when and where the truth is known. Deliberate disinformation has been rife and multifaceted – from mundane lies (no intention of invading Ukraine) to fantasy fiction […]
7th September 2021 Skopje, North Macedonia
Working and living in North Macedonia is a real privilege. I am struck regularly by the warmth of the people, the taste of the food and the wine and the beauty of the landscapes. I have had the privilege to meet people across the country. To see the heritage of the country from Bigorski monastery […]
Read more on Celebrating 30 years of Independence! Friendship, partnership and cooperation – our UK and North Macedonia story | Reply
4th August 2021 Skopje, North Macedonia
As the days are sliding and passing by, while the most of us are sitting in our pyjamas in our homemade offices, closed in by the second pandemic in this still new millennium, we are watching on our digital skies how many parts of the world are facing the harsh and devastating reality of the […]
Read more on Environmental education is the only way out | Reply
22nd March 2021
No country in the modern world can alone face the many security challenges of today – from climate change to pandemics, transnational crime to cyber-attacks. We all need partners and friends. We all need the chance to improve ourselves through cooperation. That’s what a relationship with NATO offers. And the nature of that relationship is […]
4th March 2021 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Just over a year ago now I relocated to the beautiful Island nation of Sri Lanka from my previous position at the British Consulate in Istanbul. Naturally I was excited by the prospect of relocating to a new country with my family, another adventure for us all. I was equally excited to start my new […]
Read more on Prosperity: it’s back and here to stay! | Reply
2nd March 2021 London, UK
Marking the 90th birthday of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Gill Bennett recalls how the late Tony Bishop, FCO Russian specialist, recorded Gorbachev’s first talks with Margaret Thatcher, when he acted as interpreter. ‘For heaven’s sake, try and find me a young Russian!’ This, according to Tony Bishop, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) principal […]
Read more on Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev: a view from the Foreign Office archives | Reply
22nd January 2021 Belgrade, Serbia
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 […]
27th November 2020 Belgrade, Serbia
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 […]
30th September 2020 Skopje, North Macedonia
Two years into my posting as British Ambassador to North Macedonia, September was my first month working for the recently merged Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the whole team coming back fully into the Embassy and adapting to the “new normal”. With my Embassy team, we have been working remotely and in groups from the […]
25th July 2020
Image ©Aliona Adrianova During my first meeting with Foreign Office Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Simon McDonald in March 2019, when we discussed ideas for the portrait of The Queen that he wanted to commission, I was delighted to hear that he wanted it to feel intimate. He wanted to express Her Majesty’s humanity, rather than creating […]