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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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 […]
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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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19th January 2017
Vienna, Austria
Which leading Austrian Instagramer features photographs of a figure in a yellow sou’wester? I was pleased to welcome to the Embassy recently a group of mostly young Austrians with leading accounts on the social media, like Instagram. In instagramese, this would read: Great to welcome @igersvienna to #BritishEmbassy #grambassador. One of the challenges of social […]
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10th January 2017
Vienna, Austria
A person is transported illegally away from their community to somewhere unfamiliar or foreign. Once there, they are forced to work without any form of contract or proper remuneration. This is modern slavery. It is happening throughout the world, including in Europe, on a large scale. According to the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and […]
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11th November 2016
Vienna, Austria
Just over 55 years ago, on 30 October 1961, the largest nuclear weapon ever constructed was set off over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Sea. The Soviet Tsar Bomba had a yield of 50 megatons, several thousand times as strong as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The mushroom cloud reached around 60 kilometers into […]
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21st October 2016
Vienna, Austria
A man awakes from a nightmare in the depths of the night. He writes down his fears and illustrates them with a painting. 500 years later, another artist is inspired by the painting to gather together a collection of historical objects, images and treasures from one of the finest collections in the world to “explore […]
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