#ViennaMemories #1: “Mann verliess sie…”
How do objects and memories affect each other? I explored these issues in my earlier blog, Things from Vienna? Or Viennese things? One of the costs, or possibly benefits, of of being a diplomat is...
View ArticleFootball unites: Austria, the UK and “FCO FC”
I was delighted last week to attend the match between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Football Club (“FCO FC”) against the Austrian Foreign Ministry Team (“FC Außenamt”). FCO FC have been touring...
View ArticleHow to start a new job with thousands of Twitter followers
(joint blog with @stevenxhardy, Social Media Manager, FCO) Imagine you are starting a new job where you want to communicate with people using the social media tool Twitter. Your predecessor, who is...
View Article#Viennamemories #2: a cup of hot chocolate
During my first posting in Vienna from 1984-87 I used to travel down the Westautobahn a great deal – often en route to Salzburg, Tyrol or Munich. On the way home, I used to make a pit-stop at a certain...
View ArticleThe Charles Stewart Conversations
An ambassador punches a horse and gets involved in a fight with the coachman. Two hundred years later, another ambassador in the same city initiates a series of discussion evenings named after his...
View ArticleInstagram competition winners
This summer, the British Embassy in Vienna has been running a competition on Instagram (do follow!). Our theme: the UK and Austria. We received 167 fantastic entries. You can see them on Instagram by...
View ArticleCelebrating 20 years of fighting illegal drugs and crime
On 14 September the UK joins others in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the formation of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, known as the UNODC. The UNODC was set up in 1997 from a merger between the...
View ArticleBoldly going: how the UN is helping govern space
When I was posted to Vienna in the 1980s, one of my unofficial roles at parties where foreigners were present was, as a German speaker, to go to the door when the police arrived to ask us to turn the...
View Article#ViennaMemories #3: Silesiastahl
I was in the flea-market at the Naschmarkt in Vienna in 1984 when I saw for sale a broken mechanical wall-calendar. With its black, white and gold decoration, it looked like something between...
View ArticleA year of my regional visits
Since starting my posting as Ambassador in Vienna in September 2016, I have had the pleasure of visiting almost every Austrian state, from Vorarlberg to Lower Austria. Along the way, I have met dozens...
View ArticleJourney to the Centre of the Earth – in Styria
The tunnel is steep: I clutch a rope and lower myself towards an aluminium ladder below. Water drips, gathering in pools. Yet when I reach the bottom, a beautifully-carved stone passageway curves...
View ArticleMy year in Vienna: what has changed?
A bloke in a leather jacket stands on a sunny railway platform, looking forward to starting a new job. Excited to be on my way from Salzburg today to take up my posting in #Vienna...
View ArticleSir Neville Marriner Memorial Concert, 14 November 2017
One year ago, I attended with my mother a concert in Vienna by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. It was a sombre occasion. The concert had been due to be conducted by the founder of the...
View ArticleHow to stop the illegal trade in wildlife – in Vienna
The pictures are grisly. A black rhino lies slumped, its head a mass of blood and gore. A rotting elephant carcass is hunched in the savannah, torn and ripped by scavengers. #ICYMI @BrentStirton...
View ArticleVienna – London: Extremes of Good and Bad Luck
The youngest of the four men is 82. He left when he was four years old. The oldest is 98. They cheerfully sign autographs and chat about their experiences. I’m at the launch in Vienna of a terrific...
View ArticleWhy I wear a poppy
Several Austrian friends have asked me recently why I am wearing a small, red flower – a poppy – on my jacket lapel. It’s because the United Kingdom together with other Commonwealth nations will...
View ArticleLady Nugent: portrait of purity
One of the most beautiful, and enigmatic, artworks in the British Embassy in Vienna is Anne Lucy Grenville, Lady Nugent, by the renowned portrait painter Sir Thomas Lawrence. It dates from 1813,...
View Article#ViennaMemories #4: Ernst Haas: prisoners of war
During my first posting to Vienna 1984-87, as now, I used to admire the number of fascinating exhibitions in the city. Occasionally, I would be so impressed that I bought a souvenir. One such souvenir...
View ArticleWhat does an Ambassador do?
People often ask me what exactly an Ambassador does. I did a video blog about this earlier this year. As I noted then, I represent the UK and its interests in Austria, including at some of the...
View ArticleHow the UK and UNODC are working together to tackle corruption
A corrupt official takes an illegal bribe. Why does matter? And if it does matter, what can we do about it? This isn’t just about morality. Research shows that corruption raises the cost of doing...
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