This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Ukraine

8th December 2010

A moment in history

A man and a woman, each bedecked with medals, stand at a window framed by blossoms.  The title reads “My Parents, 1988”.  Beneath is a another photo entitled “The Same Window”.  It shows the woman, now elderly, with a young man, perhaps her son or grandson.  The father is no longer there.

I’m a big fan of the museum of the Great Patriotic War in Kyiv, which shows an unvarnished view of the conflict from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact through to a room of remembrance for the millions of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who lost their lives.  On 8 December a new exhibition combining famous war images with modern photographs about the lives of veterans in today’s Ukraine was formally opened.   The images, both old and new, are terrific and, in some cases, moving.  The exhibition runs until 31 December.  I recommend it to anyone interested in photography, or indeed history.

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.

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