Review of the Event Coffeehouse Quiz on Friday, 21 January 2022, at the Café Ministerium by Wolfgang Geissler You may, kind reader, wonder what this passage from Tolkien's book “The Return of the King” has to do with yesterday's event, the first-ever Coffeehouse Quiz. Please, stay with me, and all shall be revealed. But ... Weiterlesen >
Ambassadorial Experiences | part 6 BY COLIN A. MUNRO East Germany In January 1990 on the occasion of the belated visit to East Germany by Douglas Hurd (DH), Ambassador Broomfield and I told him that the GDR was finished. He said he would tell Mrs Thatcher she would just have to get used ... Weiterlesen >
oder wie man für seine Handlungen Verantwortung übernehmen kann und die Konsequenzen akzeptiert (Rückblick auf die Veranstaltung „Neujahrsempfang“ in der Bristol Lounge, Hotel Bristol am Donnerstag 13. Jänner 2022) von Wolfgang Geißler Der 15. Buchstabe des griechischen Alphabets hat es so in sich. Somit bewahrheitete sich der dem Humoristen Wilhelm Busch untergeschobene Ausspruch: „Erstens kommt ... Weiterlesen >
BY MELANIE SULLY After reading the amusing contributions by Ambassador Christiani and Jochen Ressel on some awkward language situations I decided to relate my first encounter with Austria in 1970. Having decided Vienna, the city of music, would be the next place I should visit ‘abroad’ I bought a German phrase book. We ... Weiterlesen >
(Rückblick auf die Veranstaltung „Maroni und Punsch Silvester Party“ im Café Ministerium am Freitag, 31.12.2021) Von Wolfgang Geißler „Von des Lebens süßen Freuden Gibt die süßesten der Wein; Kürzet Stunden, mildert Leiden, Aber trinkt ihn nicht allein.“ Ich fand diesen weisen Spruch, der Conrad Ferdinand Meyer zugeschrieben wird, in einem alten „Gedenkbuch der Freundschaft, Liebe ... Weiterlesen >
When a British tries to impress the Spaniards by Jochen Ressel Our Austro-British Society's Vice President Alexander Christiani provided an excellent blog article about his Ambassadorial language experiences in the Netherlands. When reading this, it reminded me of a quite lovely and humorous story that occurred during my time working for the London ... Weiterlesen >
Ambassadorial Experiences | Teil 4 BY ALEXANDER CHRISTIANI During my time of service in the Netherlands, I also witnessed the unspeakable "sanctions" against Austria – triggered in February 2000 by the decision of the then Chancellor Schüssel to form a coalition with the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), led by Jörg Haider. Between February ... Weiterlesen >
Die Austro-British Society ist seit vielen Jahren ein unterstützender Partner des Projekts „Hilfstöne“, durch das bedürftige Kinder unterstützt werden. Initiator ist der über die Grenzen hinweg bekannte Opernsänger Clemens Unterreiner, der jedes Jahr ein großartiges Weihnachtskonzert mit internationalen Stars organisiert. Covidbedingt ist es nun schon das zweite Jahr, in der diese großartige und exklusive ... Weiterlesen >
26 years after the Dayton Accords and UK’s role now BY COLIN MUNRO On the 20th anniversary of the General Framework Agreement for Peace (formal title of the Dayton accords signed in Paris on 14 December 1995), the Austrian Institute for International Affairs organised a workshop on prospects for the Balkans on November ... Weiterlesen >
BY WOLFGANG GEISSLER Once upon a time, when schools were still on a Saturday and cinemas had matinees, our Professor in English shepherded forty-two excited fourth-formers on such a day to such a cinema. It was the “Bürgerkino”, now a bank, on Landstraßer Hauptstraße, in Vienna’s third district. The year was 1958. The ... Weiterlesen >
