It's clear that the biggest priority of all with regards to Uzbekistan is securing the safe passage of UK military equipment from Afghanistan back through Uzbek territory. In February the UK agreed to gift £450,000 of military kit to the country to secure such passage. Defence minister Philip Hammond said he was confident the kit would not be used for 'internal repression'. But even if this supposed confidence is not misguided, what message does it send that a government which just a few years ago was under strict arms embargoes from the EU and US on human rights grounds (for massacring hundreds of its own citizens in Andijan in 2005) is now enjoying military gifts from the UK?
The fact is that quality, independent, varied media, in which a wide range of voices and public views can be heard, are essential for our democracy. Given our current problems with democracy, with sinking election turnouts and widespread disillusionment, this is an issue that cannot be ignored.
The government spies on us: cue horror and massive public outrage. But is all of this really that surprising? After all, we expect our government to spy on foreigners who plot ill-will towards the nation, so why shouldn't we bear the same burdens as the rest of the world?
Soldiers may fight wars, but it is politicians who not only start them, the politicians getting around a table and talking also finish them. In a dirty and nasty war which has cost over 35,000 people's lives, the only real way to come out with a solution to the annual cycle of fighting is to discuss it.
Why is the city of Bristol printing its own money? Why have Brixton and Bath created their own energy companies? What's a local economy worth? And if we knew, how might it help us imagine an economy beyond austerity?
This year marks the centenary of famous Suffragette martyr Emily Wilding Davison's tragic death at the Epsom races. This event and the work of the Suffragette movement have made me stop to think about how far we women have come in the last 100 years and how much more there is to be done to help the next generation achieve success.
Suicide is a permissive act. It serves as a demonstration of a possible solution or even a method of communication and, consciously or not, vulnerable people respond to it. The contagiousness of suicide is just one of the many reasons journalists have a responsibility to cover it responsibly.
We have been raised in a society where the only women we see fighting the issues are those labeled as 'feminists' or 'fat' in a demeaning voice. The majority of admired female icons are supermodels in bathing suits adorning sports magazine covers in grocery stores.
Journalism is an industry that relies on a depth of variation to ensure engaging and informative content. Journalism needs writers from all walks of life, all upbringings and from every part of the UK, not just the ones lucky enough to stay with an uncle in Richmond.
It is worth us all remembering that mums are more likely to pursue and succeed with breastfeeding if the father is actively involved right from day one, and that baby-father bonds are stronger when dad plays a role.
When he arrives, I'm totally at ease. I have no expectations; I'm just out for a drink. I'm just myself, whatever that is, and he can like it or lump it. It doesn't matter if I don't fancy him, right? It's a shock, then, to find myself warming to him almost immediately.
These cats are hardcore stylists, but their roots are, like all the best tailors, in Savile Row. The difference is that they've all become rock stars by moving their trade to Soho. And it's right that Soho is the place where they have made their mark, because Soho is the world that encourages 'preservation of the individual'.
The world's second largest country in land mass, China has so much to offer the inquisitive traveller; neon-lit cities with huge shopping centres, sky-scrapers and a buzzing nightlife, hundreds of miles of arid desert, the subtropical rainforests and snow-capped Himalayan mountains
A week prior to my birthday an immediate family member, so repulsed by my lifestyle, threatened me with a ten-inch green handled screwdriver and banned his only child from communicating with me, insinuating that I would abuse him and was a present hazard to his and any other child. All of this is what now led me to vacillate over ticking the gay box when asked my sexual orientation in an application to facilitate child learning.
In 2011 the Centre for Social Justice conducted a telephone poll, the largest of its kind, of single occupants aged 75 and over. We found that nearly a quarter of a million people - a city the size of Brighton - were to spend Christmas day alone.
The most immediate question, of course, is: how much of the report will be implemented? The sweeping nature of the proposals, across criminal sanctions, accountability, remuneration, competition, governance and regulation means that even doing half of it would be a serious legislative undertaking.
I'm not sure if there is a cultural shift where it's ok to be demeaning to women or if it's just easier to access now. What I do know is that it is completely unacceptable. Now I'm far from a reluctant feminist. I'm a strident one.
This is Romania. This is modern-day prejudice. This is the life of Europe's Roma community.
Today, Amnesty International publishes a new report called 'Pushed to the margins: Five stories of Roma forced evictions in Romania'... It paints a very bleak picture.
Vice magazine isn't the first to put out a tasteless shoot in the name of fashion and 'art', but considering suicide rates are steadily rising, it could start with a decent apology.
What do Ethiopia, Mozambique and Angola have in common? Well just under two decades ago, the stories that emerged from these three countries pretty much summed up the state of most of the African continent at the time. Two decades later, the same countries are not only in the news, but on every economic analyst's list.
Sharing culture is hard when you can't entertain another point of view, tough when you have to stick to your line, and impossible when what you say can immediately be turned into a headline and used as a stick to beat you. This is the lot of modern governments.
Comments on my previous blogs from this trip have noted the tour's "carbon footprint" and how it seemed like "a holiday for rich people". But here, in the words of the women who the hundreds of thousands of pounds it has raised will affect, is why I believe raising money in style is a game-changing concept that shouldn't be sniffed at...