Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna
Part of19th May 2017 Vienna, Austria
I blogged recently about my bruising encounter with a Viennese wild boar. Following the blog, I was overwhelmed with ‘get well soon’ messages from well-wishers. Because the story was widely reported, I also received queries on the lines of ‘what’s this blogging all about then?’ and ‘What does an ambassador do when not being chased […]
15th May 2017 Vienna, Austria
Climbing through the woods after a cloudburst, I follow the path around a corner to find myself confronting a group of wild boar – four or five hulking adults and countless piglets – known, charmingly, as Frischlinge in German. I am closer to them than either they, or I, would wish. I turn and walk slowly away, avoiding sudden movements. Moments later I hear a noise […]
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10th May 2017 Vienna, Austria
I’m presenting a world-famous Austrian scientist with a gold medal for scientific achievement. His family are present, bursting with pride, along with other world-class Austrian and German scientists. Yet until I was asked to present the medal, I had never heard of the scientific discipline of Tribology. One of the joys and challenges of being […]
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5th May 2017 Vienna, Austria
Hundreds of anopheles mosquitoes are drinking warm blood. Nearby, thousands of fruit fly larvae are tucking into a tasty compote of fruit, writhing, munching and even, alarmingly, jumping in the air. In another part of the lab tsetse flies – hardest to breed – sit solemnly in mesh containers, from which they too can drink […]
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13th April 2017 Vienna, Austria
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall enter a room in Vienna’s magnificent Hofburg Palace as guests of the President of Austria, Dr Alexander Van der Bellen and the First Lady, Mrs Doris Schmidauer Around 70 journalists are present to record the event. A flurry of camera […]
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11th April 2017 Vienna, Austria
I will be writing a blog soon about the recent visit of Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall. It was a privilege to welcome them to Vienna; and wonderful to witness the warm welcome they received. During their visit, Their Royal Highnesses met a host of people from all […]
4th April 2017 Vienna, Austria
I began my current posting to Austria on the platform at Salzburg station (Hauptbahnhof) at around midnight on 1 August 2016. My plan was to spend four weeks polishing my German at a top language school in the city and to reacquaint myself with all things Austrian after an absence of 29 years. I got […]
28th March 2017 Vienna, Austria
What do Project NEPTUNE and New Zealand have in common? Both are working to tackle the problem of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), also known as legal highs. I recently opened an expert panel in Vienna, organised by the UK and New Zealand with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, on tackling NPS. The New […]
16th March 2017 Vienna, Austria
Which is the most important economic powerhouse in Austria? Amongst the nine Austrian provinces, Vienna has the largest population, followed by Lower Austria and Upper Austria. But more international exports come from Upper Austria than from any other Austrian province. So when I visited Upper Austria recently, my first stop was at Europe’s biggest motor […]
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8th March 2017 Vienna, Austria
When I was in Kyiv, some Ukrainian colleagues used to express scepticism about International Women’s Day. They saw it as tokenism; a relic of the bad old days when Soviet authorities gave lip-service to women’s rights while men dominated positions of power. One result was that although I wrote several blogs to mark International Women’s […]
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