This is the first blogcast I have recorded for several weeks. This is mainly because I had to travel to the UK for family reasons – a journey that was a story in itself. But there is another reason too. I have been spending my evenings doing an online training course.

Diplomacy is a career of life-long learning, whether that is languages, local history, international treaties or law, or the science behind topical foreign policy priorities. At the moment that means, for example, improving our understanding of coronavirus infection transmission rates and of carbon emissions.