21st March 2024
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
19th March 2024
Russia – 25 years of broken hopes and smashed dreams
8th March 2024
Gender equality is non-negotiable
28th January 2019 Vienna, Austria
Bringing The Third Man home
I am fortunate to live in Vienna in a historic residence. In addition to being used constantly for events by our three missions in the city, the house also has several bedrooms which are used for visiting ministers and officials. When I arrived in Vienna, these bedrooms did not have names. So I ran a […]
23rd January 2019
The spy who saved 10,000 Jews
I have been lucky enough to meet two of my heroes. The first was Nicholas Winton. In the days of single TV households I often found myself watching a programme I didn’t particularly like; That’s Life was one of them. But it launched the career of Victoria Wood and occasionally featured interesting stories, so I […]
21st January 2019 London,UK
Marmalade
One of the more unusual invitations I have received of late came from Jane Hasell-McCosh, Founder of the “World’s Original Marmalade Awards”, to a reception last week at the Japanese Embassy to launch the 14th edition of the awards. It turned out that the awards have their spiritual, indeed physical, home in Dalemain Mansion, a […]
17th January 2019
A New Start
Happy New Year, everyone. This is an exciting time of fresh beginnings, renewed energy and commitment to the challenges in front of us. I cannot say it was a full break from work, because sometimes a claim is so ridiculous that you have to respond – protests in Banja Luka were organised by the UK […]
16th January 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Disarmament Blog: Disarmament In 2019
After a good break over Christmas and the New Year, I’m back in Geneva feeling refreshed for what will be a busy year in disarmament. Here’s a flavour of some the issues that will be on my mind in 2019. (I’ll look at some of them in more detail in future blog posts.) 2019 marks […]
16th January 2019 King Charles Street, London
Science over Brexit: UK-Romanian Policy Dialogue on Continued Cooperation in Science and Innovation.
Last month I attended the last in a series of round-tables events about the opportunities for UK and EU collaboration in science after Brexit. UK Embassies across Central and Eastern Europe hosted academics and policy-makers to discuss the future of UK and EU collaboration on science after we leave the EU. Through my internship at […]
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15th January 2019 King Charles Street, London
From the Einstein Archives to the Scientists of the Future – Lord Winston visits Israel
Last month the UK Science & Innovation Network in Israel (SIN) hosted the Lord Professor Robert Winston, a passionate advocate for UK-Israel cooperation in Science. Lord Winston is co-chairing the UK-Israel Science Council – a body of 25 leading scientists from the UK and Israel, who help guide our efforts to use science, research and […]
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11th January 2019 Auckland, New Zealand
The Far Side
That term has practically slipped away into the ether since the retirement of the wonderful cartoonist Gary Larsson in 1995. But as all space watchers will be only too acutely aware it is a term that has dominated the electronic and print media since the landing of the Chang’e 4 Rover on the South Pole-Aitken […]
7th January 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Identifying Fallen Soldiers
It is fair to say that the UK and Argentina have had their differences. Yet at the end of 2018 the Permanent Missions of the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom came together, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to commemorate the completion of a joint humanitarian project to […]
7th January 2019 Port Louis, Mauritius
Armistice 100 – Remembrance Day in Mauritius
It’s been quite some time since my last blog. Twitter seems to have taken over! Remembrance Day and that important opportunity to honour and remember those who gave so much seemed like a very good occasion to get started again. Honouring those who served in the Arctic Convoys of the Second World War was a […]
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