Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

24th January 2012

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Social entrepreneurship in Ukraine?

On a deeply snowy winter’s morning I visit Pushcha-Vodytsya, on the outskirts of Kiev, to address the participants of a week-long training course on social entrepreneurship. The idea of most business activity is to earn profits which can be paid to the shareholders who invested in the enterprise in the first place.  The difference with […]

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24th January 2012

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by Greg Dorey

Diplomat

Timket

Last week I was privileged with my colleague Betty to attend the annual Ethiopian event of Temket, the main festival for orthodox Christians in Ethiopia and the equivalent of our Epiphany. The concept of revelation is similar to all such ceremonies, but here in Ethiopia the focus is on Christ’s baptism and His first miracle […]

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23rd January 2012

Robin Twyman

by Robin Twyman

Consul for Business and Government Affairs

Enjoy beer (responsibly)

I love a good beer.  Preferably a real ale (consumed responsibly, naturally). If I was back home in the UK, I’d order a pint of Spitfire, brewed by England’s oldest brewery, Faversham-based Shepherd Neame.  So I thought I was going to be disappointed with the lighter offerings in the US, and have to resign myself […]

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23rd January 2012 London, UK

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by David Lidington

Minister for Europe, London

Making the European Court of Human Rights work better

This week is a big week for the UK in Strasbourg. We are 11 weeks into our 6 month Chairmanship of the Council of Europe. We are pressing ahead with our wide-ranging Chairmanship priorities, in particular our ambitious package of reforms for the European Court of Human Rights (the Court). The Council of Europe was […]

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23rd January 2012

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by Peter Millett

Ambassador to Libya, Tripoli

Give Peace a Chance

As has been widely reported, King Abdullah has succeeded in bringing Israeli and Palestinian negotiators together for the first time in 16 months. They have held three meetings in Amman choreographed by Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh. Comments in the international press have seen a wide range of optimism, pessimism and cynicism.  It’s easy to be pessimistic […]

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23rd January 2012 Bucharest, Romania

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by Raluca Bragarea

Head of Communications, Bucharest

Entrepreneurship is GREAT Britain

Sir Richard Branson is reportedly going to visit Romania in May! He is one of the most inspiring entrepreneurs of our days and a personal role model given his multifaceted achievement, whether in business, personal life, charity work, music or sport. A visionary with astounding resources, Richard Branson is the offspring of Britain’s economic boom […]

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20th January 2012 USA

Spencer Mahoney

by Spencer Mahony

HM Consul and UKTI Regional Director for the South East United States

American football is GREAT

The following is a guest post by Melinda Goforth, Consul, Head of Trade and Investment — Washington. George Bernard Shaw once said that America and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language. But I think the quirky differences in our respective ways of phrasing can actually bring us together, a point illustrated […]

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20th January 2012 Washington DC, USA

Rosalind Campion portrait

by Rosalind Campion

Counsellor for Global Issues

Haircuts are a sign of the times

I’m not sure if it was nerves, enthusiasm, or a combination of the two, but the atmosphere in the Embassy here in Washington DC was palpably different this week. Ties and new haircuts had been acquired by colleagues over the weekend. And—clearly a sign that something was up—we were all early to the regular Embassy-wide […]

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20th January 2012 Nairobi, Kenya

by Matt Baugh

Ambassador to Somalia

London Conference on Somalia: Enhancing Security, Supporting Stability

Thank you for the fantastic response to my previous blog. It’s great to see so many comments. For my next few blogs I intend to focus on the key themes of the London Conference, and would like to ask that comments try to focus on each of those issues. So, in this blog I want […]

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20th January 2012

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Moldova overtakes Ukraine in Freedom House rankings

In a recent blog “Is Ukraine democratic?” I noted an “Economist”, report, The Democracy Index 2011 (pdf file), which showed Ukraine’s democratic ranking falling from 67th in 2010 to 79th in 2011 out of 167 countries.  I noted that we should not read too much into a single report; and said it would be interesting […]

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