25th April 2024
Reflect & Remember: Anzac Day 2024
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
23rd April 2024
Good English – A Key to Panama’s Future Success
21st March 2024
Forests in focus on International Day of Forests
26th March 2019 Vienna, Austria
Water security, cancer and research in Austria
Could moves to “normalise” larger clothes sizes have a link to health risks such as cancer? And why should I travel to an 18th century Habsburg Palace to find out? 15 kilometres from Vienna is the beautiful Schloss Laxenburg, where the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA) carries out cutting-edge research on issues ranging […]
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25th March 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Fretful Felines at Forty
Last autumn, Pixie – our much loved cat (and subject of a 2015 blog trilogy) – fell seriously ill. After a week in pet hospital, the vets advised that she needed an urgent blood transfusion to survive. Except they didn’t have any cat blood in stock, so they asked if I could round up some […]
22nd March 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Disarmament blog: Looking back at the UK’s Conference on Disarmament Presidency
Four weeks ago, the UK assumed the rotating Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament. Today, we hand it over, with our best wishes, to the US. It’s been an intense four weeks. During the High Level Segment we heard from 30 Ministers over five plenary meetings. We presided over eight working formal and informal plenary […]
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19th March 2019 Skopje, North Macedonia
Chess, football and basketball – bringing youth together in North Macedonia
Sport is one of the best ways to socialise with peers, it has a positive impact on the well-being of children and youth and therefore it can raise productivity and change our everyday life. Youth in Chair, municipality in Skopje, North Macedonia were actively engaged in three tournaments this March, bringing together children from three […]
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19th March 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
The Rule of Law in the Human Rights Council
The implementation of the rule of law, like human rights and fundamental freedoms, is a key means by which the power of the state is constrained. While human rights address the relationship between the state and its people, the rule of law governs the relationship between the branches of the state. Its implementation ensures that […]
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11th March 2019
10 facts you didn’t know about the UK’s links with the Commonwealth
The Commonwealth is one of the world’s oldest international networks, and this year, we celebrate its 70th anniversary. Since the modern Commonwealth came into being, independent countries from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Pacific have joined the Commonwealth family. Membership is voluntary and based on shared values. And it’s those common values of […]
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8th March 2019 Science Innovation USA
International Women’s Day 2019: Spotlight on Scientists of the RIPE Project
As part of SIN USA’s celebration of International Women’s Day 2019, SIN Chicago profiled four early-career scientists from the RIPE Project, an international collaboration funded by the UK Department for International Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. RIPE aims to improve photosynthesis, the process plants use to […]
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7th March 2019 Skopje, North Macedonia
Education, engagement and economy – my first visit to Shtip
One-hour drive from central to eastern North Macedonia, away from Skopje’s urban noise, you drive into a wide greenfield area full of agricultural land known as Ovche Pole. Its name in the Macedonian language means “plain of sheep” and it spreads left and right as a wide wave of green and wind. It is noted by Rebecca West in the famous “Black […]
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1st March 2019 Guatemala City, Guatemala
The GREAT British fortnight
What do you think of when you hear the word Britain? For some it’s London – Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the Queen – for others it’s football (Manchester City/United) or music (Beatles, Queen, Adele) or food (fish and chips, scones and jam) and drink (whisky and gin, and of course our national drink – tea!). […]
27th February 2019 Vienna, Austria
#ViennaMemories #8: The Third Room (and the Third Man)
What is a Third Room? I occasionally consider on this blog objects I acquired during my first diplomatic posting in Vienna in 1984-87. One such is the “Third Room” sign below. I had it made in Vienna in 1985 when working as Second Secretary in the old British embassy in the Reisnerstrasse. According to the […]
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