DIPLO Blog

Skip to content Paul Madden British Ambassador to Japan 29th September 2020 Tokyo, Japan Former British Consulate in YokohamaThe former British Consulate in Yokohama is a handsome stone building, reconstructed after the Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923, just like the Embassy in Tokyo. Its location, amidst the downtown shops and offices of Japan’s second largest city, was once the bustling waterfront where East met West. Yokohama was one of several Treaty Ports, where foreigners were allowed to trade, when Japan reopened to the world after 230 years of isolation in 1854. As the nearest entry point to Tokyo, it was to become by far the most important of them. Nowadays the building houses the Yokohama Archives of History, with an impressive collection of documents relating to the Meiji period when Japan was opening up, rapidly modernising, and beginning its journey towards becoming one of the world’s largest economies. Curator Yoshizaki Masaki invited me to visit the archive to see some of..

Skip to content Sian MacLeod UK Ambassador to Serbia Part of UK in Serbia 25th September 2020 Belgrade, Serbia Windows on History The British and the Second World War in YugoslaviaThe Second World War finally came to an end just over 75 years ago. The memory of that war becomes more distant with each passing generation. This was the lived experience of my parents’ generation, experience and memories that our parents – or perhaps for some of you your grandparents – recounted to us as children, but which we can only now pass on second or third hand to our own children. Some of the most remarkable wartime memories and stories told by the British wartime generation concern the cooperation and events which happened in what was then Yugoslavia. They are memories and stories of a remarkable history of struggle, bravery, resilience, ingenuity and sacrifice by our forebears to overcome a common adversary. The Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, here in Belgrade, is a constant reminder of the sac..

Skip to content Robin Barnett Ambassador to Ireland, Dublin 22nd September 2020 Dublin, Ireland Robin Barnett’s Final Blog as British Ambassador to IrelandThis is my last blog as Ambassador to Ireland. There are so many topics that I could cover but I wanted to focus on just 3 that are personal to me: GAA Before coming to Ireland, I had not appreciated the significance of the GAA but I quickly got an introduction to football at the 2016 Dublin v Mayo game. This was to be the start of my education and over my four years here, I have come to love the passion of the sports that make up the GAA and to understand the history around it. During my time, we have been fortunate to have several Royal visitors and it has been fantastic to see them being introduced to the GAA and even trying their hand at hurling and football. One of the last events before lockdown was the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Galway, where they thoroughly enjoyed their time being coached by their junior..

Skip to content Sian MacLeod UK Ambassador to Serbia Part of Digital Diplomacy FCDO Outreach UK in Serbia 21st September 2020 Belgrade, Serbia The Online Diplomat The Online DiplomatI was recently asked to open a conference on communications. Because of the public health situation the conference was held virtually, that is to say, online. It’s a dangerous thing to be an amateur opening a conference of professionals. To do so using their own medium was, to use typically British irony, ‘courageous’. I realised that I was probably in more need of advice from the experts than they were from me. But as the saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Diplomacy, broadly speaking is about policy, people and places. A diplomat’s life and work is about presenting policy, meeting people and visiting places. That’s tricky just now. I wouldn’t go as far as a well-known commentator for Carnegie Europe who said that coronavirus had “brought diplomatic activity to a standstill”. But there is a qui..

Skip to content Leigh Turner Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna 17th September 2020 Vienna, Austria Why the British Embassy in Vienna is proud to be greenDiplomats from the British Embassy are off to an important meeting in Vienna. The Ringstrasse, as so often, is gridlocked. No problem for our diplomats, who hop on an embassy bike and arrive not only on time, but in style. Our British Embassy Vienna bikesOur embassy bikes mean that British diplomats in Vienna make many journeys by bike which would once have been by car. Result: zero emissions (apart, perhaps, from some panting). The bikes are just one of the measures we have taken to make the three British diplomatic missions in Austria greener. Our Embassy ‘green team’ are constantly looking for ways to reduce our environmental footprint. Measures we have taken so far include: Banning single use plastics. This is harder than it sounds. The first..

Skip to content Leigh Turner Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna 7th September 2020 Vienna, Austria How Austria has – and hasn’t – changed‘You were a diplomat in Vienna in the ‘80s?’ My interlocutor scans me, perhaps wondering why I am still working, or alive. ‘It must have changed so much!’ ‘Well…’ I seek a diplomatic reply. ‘Yes and no.’ Oscar Wilde famously said “Comparisons are odious”. I often cite him when asked which of my diplomatic postings I have preferred out of Vienna, Moscow, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul. But Vienna has evolved since 1984-87, when I served here as second secretary press and political. With exactly one year to go before I am due to conclude my posting as ambassador in Vienna, I thought I would have a go at highlighting five things that have changed since the ‘80s, and five things that haven’t: What hasn’t changed (i) Vienna used to be so grey and dull, didn’t it? Young Vi..

Skip to content Leigh Turner Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna 7th September 2020 Vienna, Austria How Austria has – and hasn’t – changed‘You were a diplomat in Vienna in the ‘80s?’ My interlocutor scans me, perhaps wondering why I am still working, or alive. ‘It must have changed so much!’ ‘Well…’ I seek a diplomatic reply. ‘Yes and no.’ Oscar Wilde famously said “Comparisons are odious”. I often cite him when asked which of my diplomatic postings I have preferred out of Vienna, Moscow, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul. But Vienna has evolved since 1984-87, when I served here as second secretary press and political. With exactly one year to go before I am due to conclude my posting as ambassador in Vienna, I thought I would have a go at highlighting five things that have changed since the ‘80s, and five things that haven’t: What hasn’t changed (i) Vienna used to be so grey and dull, didn’t it? Young Vi..

Skip to content Ming Liu Head of Science and Innovation Part of Global Science and Innovation Network 31st August 2020 Guangzhou, China ‘He that is thy friend indeed, he will help thee in thy need.’In March, a large shipment of thousands of masks, gloves, overalls and goggles arrived in Birmingham. Stapled to the side of each of the crates was a quote, in both Chinese and English, attributed to William Shakespeare: ‘He that is thy friend indeed, he will help thee in thy need.’ (“岁寒知松柏，患难见真情.”) This consignment was one of many from Chinese universities to their partner institutions in the UK. In this case, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University sent this shipment to their long standing partner, the University of Birmingham. Minister Sharma spoke at the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University in 2017 The importance of partnerships comes the fore in times of crisis. As the scale of the COVID-19 crisis in the UK became apparent in March, we started to receive g..

Skip to content Ming Liu Head of Science and Innovation, BCG Guangzhou Part of Global Science and Innovation Network 31st August 2020 Guangzhou, China ‘He that is thy friend indeed, he will help thee in thy need.’In March, a large shipment of thousands of masks, gloves, overalls and goggles arrived in Birmingham. Stapled to the side of each of the crates was a quote, in both Chinese and English, attributed to William Shakespeare: ‘He that is thy friend indeed, he will help thee in thy need.’ (“岁寒知松柏，患难见真情.”) This consignment was one of many from Chinese universities to their partner institutions in the UK. In this case, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University sent this shipment to their long standing partner, the University of Birmingham. Minister Sharma spoke at the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University in 2017 The importance of partnerships comes the fore in times of crisis. As the scale of the COVID-19 crisis in the UK became apparent in March, we start..

Skip to content Matt Field British Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Part of UK in Bosnia and Herzegovina 30th August 2020 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina The Search Continues International Day of the Disappeared is not an abstract commemoration of a far off event. Many around us are living with a terrible curse, not only of losing a loved one, but of not being able to put them and their memory to rest. In my time in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), I’ve met many families who are in this position and heard their stories of ongoing pain and loss. In BiH and neighbouring countries, 11,000 people still remain to be found, and identified. The UK, for its part, continues to support this work, and hold governments to their commitments to do so too. But the search for the missing has also represented a remarkable success. Thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of families of those who disappeared, approximately 70% of the 40,000 who disappeared during the 1990s conflicts have been ide..