Puffbox

I've added a lengthy comment to Stephen Hale's recent blog post about preparations for a much-needed redesign of the FCO's blogs.fco.gov.uk site. Unfortunately, the FCO's platform did horrible things to the formatting, so even if it's only to make it legible, I thought I'd echo one of the more controversial points I made in that [...] read on »

News from the Foreign Office: they've selected Jimmy Leach, former head of digital at 10 Downing Street, currently 'Editorial Director for Digital' at The Independent, for the recently-advertised position of FCO's Head of Digital Engagement. He's due to start in February. It'll be great to have him back: as I've written previously, I think he effectively [...] read on »

The Foreign Office relaunched its corporate website over the weekend - always a brave move. You're met by a very striking news-y homepage, with large-format high-impact (and high maintenance) imagery: it works very well indeed, but is the sort of homepage which takes a lot of editorial effort, and presumably a photo budget of some [...] read on »

Another senior digital job pops up: this time, it's the Foreign Office looking for a Head of Digital Engagement. It's a Senior Civil Service band 1 position, a 2-year fixed-term contract with a salary up to £90k (plus London weighting, plus 6 weeks holiday!), managing the 30-strong team based in London, Washington, New Delhi and [...] read on »

One of the few international set-pieces between now and the next general election is the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in mid-December. And the UK's Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is trying to drum up support among the population for - er, well, let's not dwell on details. 'A deal' of [...] read on »

In February, The Times named the blog written by Philip Barclay and Grace Mutandwa, staff at the British Embasy in Zimbabwe, to be  one of the UK's best. And rightly so. Some of the stuff they've written has been the most moving I've ever read on a blog. But while Grace is a local, Philip [...] read on »

It's great to see the Foreign Office's Stephen Hale raising his head above the parapet, and blogging about his job as 'Head of Engagement'. (Quite a job title, by the way.) Makes sense for numerous reasons of course, not least as a means of setting a good example for colleagues. I mean, would you trust [...] read on »

Well, here's a first. Government press officers haven't been the most enthused by new media. I'm told that's changing, slowly but surely. But it's quite startling to see a press office announcing a blog which hasn't even been launched yet - and even better, syndicating the content via press release! Clearly the Scotland Office are pretty [...] read on »

Wednesday saw the formal launch of London's crime maps, which first appeared in beta only a couple of weeks back. Don't call it '1.0' though: the source code declares it's actually 'beta 1.02'. As before, it shows areas colour-coded for the rates of 'burglary, robbery and vehicle crime', based on comparisons with 'the average'. Yes, that's [...] read on »

A few more developments over at the Foreign Office to note. Meg Munn, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State is now blogging - making a total of 3 FCO ministers, along with Messrs Miliband and Murphy. They've also been bringing in a few other Embassy staff - including the High Commissioners to Nigeria and Malta, both [...] read on »