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
23rd December 2011 Athens, Greece
'Going for Green' lands in Athens. A GREAT opportunity
The first time I watched this film was during a screening organized internally for Embassy staff back in January 2011. “Going for Green – Britain’s 2012 Dream” was commissioned by the FCO, and tells the story of how the Olympic Park is being built in an environmentally sustainable way, as set out in the legacy […]
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23rd December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
From wedding feast to global business – never under-estimate the Parsi influence for good in Mumbai
I was fortunate recently to attend my first ever Parsi wedding. Two of the 40 or so Parsi staff in the Deputy High Commission in Mumbai, Nazneen (our press officer) and Burzin ( a member of the UKBA team), were getting married, and they had been kind enough to invite my wife and me to […]
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22nd December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
EU-Ukraine Summit interview
Ahead of the 19 December EU-Ukraine Summit in Kyiv, I did an interview on 15 December with the Levyi Bereg website. It was published today. You can read the full interview here (in Russian). We will be putting up an English translation shortly on the interviews and speeches page of our Embassy Website.
22nd December 2011 London, UK
Family, friends and photo albums!
Nick Latta Former Deputy Head of Mission and Consul General, British Embassy Tripoli Last Christmas Eve, my mother came to visit us in Tripoli, via Tunisia, bearing the strange story of a man there who had set himself alight in protest at police intimidation and his own poverty. Little did we imagine how that sad […]
22nd December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
We are a Christian Country
2011 has seen a year of activity commemorating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. This Bible, possibly the single most influential text in the English language, was a great achievement of its day. But it also had lasting impact. In a speech last weekend to mark the anniversary, Prime Minister David Cameron said […]
21st December 2011 Ottawa, Canada
A holiday message
A holiday message from British High Commissioner Andrew Pocock… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zof8de9GQMk
21st December 2011 Nairobi, Kenya
Somalia: Reflections on 2011, Focus on 2012
With 2011 drawing to a close, let’s take a moment to reflect on the past year, and look ahead to the next. 2011 has been a particularly tragic year for Somalia and, most importantly Somalis. Despite a great deal of effort and goodwill by many people both outside and inside of Somalia, the country remains […]
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20th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
UK leads humanitarian funding
Important developments at the UN in New York, where “humanitarian week” has ended with the annual replenishment conference for the UN Central Emergency Fund (CERF). This is a vital fund, established with UK encouragement in 2006 by the General Assembly, to provide timely and reliable funding for countries affected by rapid and unexpected emergencies, as […]
20th December 2011 Beirut, Lebanon
Social Media Changing Lives, and Lebanon
The theme of last week’s International Human Rights Day was the role that social media can play in highlighting and challenging human rights abuses. So I was excited to be invited to take part in the American University of Beirut’s conference on Social Media Changing Lives, put together by the excellent @mhijazi and his team. […]
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20th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Queen Marie arrives at the Ambassador’s Residence
This week Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Margareta unveiled a new picture at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Bucharest – a portrait of Queen Marie of Romania. Queen Marie was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, born Princess Marie of Edinburgh in 1875. As the wife of King Ferdinand she became Queen of Romania in 1914. […]
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