About this blog
Welcome to my blog - I'm Charles Reed and I advise the Church of England on foreign policy issues.
This blog covers a variety of topics from US foreign policy to European politics and the Middle East - and whatever else happens to be in the news or catch my attention.
This is a conversational blog so please join in as your comments are an essential part of making the whole thing work.
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Tag Archives: International Development
Europe and its future(s)
Ecumenical visits to Helsinki, Finland and then to Novi Saad, Serbia, followed by the debate on the Queen’s Speech has meant there has been little time to blog. There has certainly been no shortage of issues to write about –Chicago … Continue reading
Posted in Ecumenism, Europe
Tagged Afghanistan, Bishop of Guildford, Bishop of Lichfield, Bishop of Wakefield, CEC, EU, European Ecumenism, Greece, International Development, O.7%, Queen's Speech
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Development Futures
How should Labour work with civil society, faith groups and others to deliver effective development? That was the question that I posted last week following a meeting of the Labour Party’s policy review group on international development. The little research … Continue reading
Helping Red Ed get it Right on International Development
Yesterday was a bit of a surreal day for me as I attended the first Expert Task Force meeting of the Labour Party’s Working Group on International Development. There are six Expert Task Forces that make up this Working Group, … Continue reading
Assessing UK Aid: Changing Lives, Delivering Results
What is one to make of the results of Changing Lives, the Department for International Development’s (DfIDs) review exercise published yesterday? In the rush to delve into the report’s critical details, it is all too easy to overlook that the … Continue reading
General Synod: Doing Business with DfID and Andrew Mitchell
What can one say about Andrew Mitchell’s address to General Synod? Let’s take the question of style first. This was a very business like performance. There was none of the rabble rousing rhetoric used by Secretary of State’s of old. … Continue reading
The General Synod and DfID – East Kilbride Reflections
Yesterday’s meeting with the DfID’s Civil Society Department in East Kilbride was a positive if tiring affair. The professionalism of staff was self-evident as was their willingness to engage in a frank conversation about the potential for collaboration around the faith … Continue reading
Christian Aid gets in Touch with its Feminine Side
Christian Aid’s AGM today was an opportunity to see for the first time the new Director and Chair in action and to assess how CA is responding to the changes at No10. Over the last 18 months CA has gone through major … Continue reading
Posted in Development
Tagged Christian Aid, Dame Anne Owers, International Development, Loretta Minghella
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Dancing on the Heads of Snakes has had its Day – Understanding British Foreign and Development Policy to Yemen
Earlier this week I attended a Chatham House conference titled Yemen: Political Dynamics and the International Policy Framework. The highlight was the intervention by Alan Duncan, the Minister of State for International Development, on government policy towards Yemen. What hit … Continue reading
Reflecting on Yemeni Proverbs
There is an old Yemeni proverb which reads: “Do not sigh, for your enemy will hear and rejoice.” Following last week’s terrorism scare there was an audible sigh from journalists and politicians as they frantically typed Yemen into the google … Continue reading
Posted in Yemen
Tagged David Cameron, Drones, Hearts and Minds, International Development, International Security, Middle East, Terrorism
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