19th October 2016
Vienna, Austria
So what really happens at a General Conference of the IAEA – the International Atomic Energy Agency? Delegates from 168 countries converge on the HQ of the IAEA in Vienna. They hold many meetings; and, after a week, most of them return to their countries. But why? It’s always difficult explaining what diplomats do. It’s […]
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7th October 2016
Vienna, Austria
I’m sitting around a table with numerous Ambassadors discussing nuclear security. But we’re not at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We’re at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP). And instead of sitting in one of the huge semi-circular conference chambers of the Vienna International Centre, we’re on the thirteenth floor of the […]
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20th September 2016
Vienna, Austria
When I arrived at the British Embassy in Vienna on 29 August 2016 one of my first meetings was with my excellent Press and Public Affairs (PPA) team. Part of the work of diplomats is to explain to people what we do; and draw attention to good things that link our countries together. For example, […]
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23rd November 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A colleague in the Balkans recently said “tell me about music and diplomacy”. Sitting in Vienna on a cold, grey Sunday that is the day of St Cecilia patron saint of music, seems as good a time as any. A flurry of academic writing has yet to persuade me of music’s capacity ‘to model international […]
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21st October 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Each week I take the UK seat at the OSCE Permanent Council in the Hofburg, imposing former Hapsburg imperial seat, where I recently read, the 1815 Congress of Vienna ‘danced the night away, 200 years ago, shaping post-Napoleonic Europe almost as an afterthought’. History records an impressive social whirl around the lengthy negotiations. 201 years […]
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9th September 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
In August I arrived in a new country, new city, new home and new job. For diplomats moving is familiar but still brings upheaval. I remember my trepidation over 25 years ago at Helsinki station waiting for the train to Moscow and the start of my diplomatic career. I had little idea of the world […]
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4th October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
When I was posted in Vienna from 1984-7 I enjoyed watching the signs that the seasons were changing. As an autumn chill crept into the air, the Viennese hailed the arrival of the “Russian crows” – big, capable-looking birds which would strut their stuff around the parks and squares of the city for a couple […]
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