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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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 […]
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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 […]
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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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28th February 2017
Vienna, Austria
What has been the most unexpected hit video I have put on Twitter during my time as Ambassador in Vienna? The answer is, indeed, not what you would expect. I recently visited the most westernmost province of Austria, Vorarlberg. Lying on Lake Constance (known in German as the Bodensee), and bordering Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, […]
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21st February 2017
Vienna, Austria
My introductory video from last September noted the importance of visiting all parts of Austria; and of the dialects spoken in different regions. You can watch me attempting to learn the wonderful and challenging Tyrolean dialect in the video above. Clearly it’s easier in a snowstorm; up a mountain; in the cable-car going down; or, […]
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16th February 2017
Vienna, Austria
The wind is whistling at the top of the Hungerbergbahn. But my teacher is encouraging. ‘It’s bärig,’ she says. ‘Innsbruck ist bärig’ (‘Innsbruck is terrific’). I repeat; and repeat; and repeat again. I’ve written before about the variety of Austria. A country dissected by great mountains and steep valleys has developed, over centuries, a patchwork of […]
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7th February 2017
Vienna, Austria
I wrote in my blog about modern slavery last month that “modern slavery is happening throughout the world, including in Europe, on a large scale”. So what are we doing about it? More than 200 years ago William Wilberforce led Britain in the fight against slavery – opening the eyes of the world to the […]
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31st January 2017
Vienna, Austria
The clock is slightly fake. Its large face, with a hint of what I believe may be 1930s or 1950s design, displays not only hour, minute and second hands, but also – mostly – the correct time. Take it off the wall, however, and you will see that the original electric mechanism has been replaced […]
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