ABS Newsletter April 2021

April 2021

Editorial
Future Events
Presidential Message
Happy birthday, Majesty!
The ABS blog: Always spot on!
The National Tea Day
Know your Board Members

EDITORIAL

Dear Members and Friends of the ABS,

I'm delighted to take over the responsibility as Editor-in-Chief of the monthly information which we provide regularly for you as a distinguished member of our honourable society, and we will continue to do our very best to satisfy your demand for information of ongoing ABS activities. As our events do, also the monthly ABS News should reflect the diversity of our society and is intended to foster Austro-British relations in all aspects of public and cultural life.

This is also the opportunity to thank Fred Fruth for all the excellent work he did during the last 11 years and who - with great dedication - took care not only of the ABS newsletter but a number of duties to develop our society to what it is today.

We are all looking forward to hopefully be permitted to meet you all again in person in the not too distant future!

Yours Jochen Ressel,

Editor-in-Chief

FUTURE EVENTS

ABS Event im Okt. 2020 mit Austrian Airlines-CEO Dr. Alexis von Hoensbroech.

Alles vorbereitet, um den "START"-Knopf zu drücken

Noch hindert uns die Covid19-Pandemie, Veranstaltungen durchzuführen. Die ABS ist allerdings bestens darauf vorbereitet, um umgehend starten zu können, sobald es möglich ist. In Summe sind 20 Veranstaltungen bereits konzeptioniert, fertig vorbereitet und müssen lediglich terminisiert werden. Hier eine Vorschau der Events, die unmittelbar nach einem offiziellen "Go" umgesetzt werden:

Dr. Thomas Szekeres, Präsident der Ärztekammer Wien, zum Thema „Corona-Pandemie“
Mag. Dr. Gerhard Pürstl, Polizeipräsident Wien, zum Thema „Die Sicherheitslage in Wien“
Dr. Bernd Zierhut, CEO - Doppler Beteiligungs GmbH,
über die Zukunft des Erdöls in Österreich
Außerdem gibt es bereits Planungen für die traditionelle British Car Excursion.

Bis es soweit ist, bleiben Sie bitte gesund. Wir freuen uns auf ein Wiedersehen!

PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE

"Alles neu im April" ist unser Motto!

Kein Aprilscherz sondern wirklich wahr: Am 1. April 2021 ist unsere neue ABS-Homepage live geschaltet worden! Corporate Member und Vorstandsmitglied Fridolin Richter hat mit seiner Firma nu:media die Zeit im Homeoffice genutzt, um dieses Vorhaben in vielen Stunden erklassigen Einsatzes zu realisiert. Nach mehr als 10 Jahren war es an der Zeit, einen Relaunch vorzunehmen, um Optik und Funktionalität unserer Homepage den neuen technischen Möglichkeiten wie folgt anzupassen:

Neues, übersichtlicheres Design
Neue Technik – das Content Management System wurde von Joomla auf Wordpress umgestellt
Verbesserte Bedienung am Handy
Übersicht über die neuesten Social Media Aktivitäten der ABS
Bessere Übersicht über die neuesten Blog-Beiträge sowie der neuesten Policy Papers
Verbesserte Sicherheit der Webpage
In Kürze folgen eine verbesserte Übersicht über die Mitgliedschaft und die Veranstaltungsanmeldungen auf Benutzerebene, sowie ein verbesserter automatisierter Rechnungsversand.

Besuchen Sie unsere neue Web-Präsenz, indem Sie hier klicken:

Zusätzlich bieten wir Ihnen ab April mit diesem Newsletter einen umfassenden Relaunch dieses allseits geschätzten Informationsmediums. Mit neuem Design und Graphik, moderner Gestaltung und erweiterten aktuellen Inhalten, halten wir Sie auch weiterhin über unsere Aktivitäten am Laufenden.

Ich freue mich auf ein hoffentlich baldiges, gemeinsames, gesellschaftliches Leben nach Corona!

Ihr Prof. Dr. Kurt Tiroch,

Präsident

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOUR MAJESTY!

I first became aware of the Queen’s remarkable impact in remote parts of the Commonwealth during my posting (1973-77) to the British High Commission (embassy in a Commonwealth country) in Malaysia. One of my duties was to report on developments in East Malaysia, including Sarawak which joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. On a visit to a longhouse deep in the jungle, inhabited by Sea Dayaks, notorious in olden days for piracy and headhunting, I noticed posters of Queen Elizabeth, probably left over from Her state visit to Malaysia in 1972, but none of the Malaysian head of state. The headman had an answer to my question about the missing head of state as well. We love “Queen EE”. Then it was the turn of the children who had rehearsed a song in my honour: London Bridge is falling down. Queen EE symbolized for the Sea Dayaks qualities of uncorrupt fair dealing by British administrators, which their Malay successors often lacked.

From the moment of her accession in 1952, until today, the Queen has been dedicated to serving the UK, and her other Realms, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, as head of state. She has attached high priority to her informal role as head of the Commonwealth. Even in former colonies which take a jaundiced view of the British, the Queen personally enjoys great respect, even affection.

It is therefore absurd to describe the Royal Family – Her family – as nowadays institutionally racist. It is not the present Queen’s job to apologize for her predecessors, either as head of state or for their personal conduct. She has in fact adapted better than many of her British subjects to the end of empire, and to the UK’s circumstances, much reduced since her father’s coronation as King Emperor in 1937, when she was eleven. She has also adapted to the new Europe. Her first state visit to Germany in 1965 was an outstanding success.

The Queen reigns within the constitutional sovereignty of Parliament. A government with an absolute majority in the House of Commons can do as it likes. The weaknesses in this arrangement, as they affect the Queen, have been evident during the Brexit drama. But it will be for parliament, the people and the courts to resolve them, probably during the reign of the Queen’s successor. Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth remains immensely popular and respected. She has earned her popularity and respect.

By Colin Munro

Remarks from the Editor-in-Chief:

Colin Munro’s full ABS blog article about Queen Elisabeth II. is to be published soon. Stay tuned!
Click here to read Colin Munro's outstanding ABS blog article about “THE BRITISH MONARCHY” by clicking here:

ABS blog "The British Monarchy" by C. Munro

THE ABS-BLOG

Always spot on!

In 2020 the board of the Austro-British Society decided to launch a new communication channel to provide a forum for intellectual interaction of its members – the ABS blog. Since than, a number of highly interesting articles have been published. Moreover, it is outstanding that the authors have choosen topics absolutely up-to-date. Just to mention a few:

Just as the new lockdown after the Christmas season 2020 has been announced, Ian Murdoch wrote about “THE PUB AND THE BUG”

Just as the Brexit was due to be effective, shortly before the ending of 2020, Wolfgang Geissler wrote about “THE STRANGE CASE OF ENGLISH NATIONALISM”.

Just as the last tones of the famous Viennese New Year’s Concert faded away, Jochen Ressel wrote about ”THE TRUE MEANING OF CULTURE”.

Just a few days, after Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been suspended, Jochen Ressel wrote about “SOCIAL MEDIA OLIGARCHY”.

Just as the rally of digital currency value increases became an issue of worldwide relevance, Ian Murdoch wrote about “CRYPTO CURRENCIES”.

Just as the departure of the Sussexes was in everybody’s focus, Colin A. Munro wrote about “THE BRITISH MONARCHY”.

Just as the political decisions to fight the Covid19 pandemic were heavily discussed, Melanie Sully wrote about “THE HUMAN DILEMMA”.

Just as the UEFA Champions League season began, Ian Murdoch wrote about “THE PREMIER LEAGUE”.

Just shortly after the Royal Family has been accused of racism, Wolfgang Geissler wrote about “THE WHITE MEN’S BURDEN”.

Just as the discussion about the vaccination strategy continued, Wolfgang Geissler wrote about “A TRUE STORY”.

Hence, it’s worth staying tuned to get top information regularly! And more than that: LET US HAVE YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS TO OUR BLOG ARTICLES to enrich the articles through an ongoing discussion. Many thanks in advance! The ABS blogging team of authors promises to make best possible effort to provide you constantly with top actual articles!

by Jochen Ressel, on behalf of the entire ABS blog team

THE NATIONAL TEA DAY

April 21st is the day of the hot drink's connoisseurs

In the spirit of the upcoming National Tea Day in UK on April 21st we are showing our love and respect to the Brits' drink of choice for the past two centuries. Everything about the tea tradition in UK sounds and looks like a fairytale - a fairytale which "once upon of time" was in 18th century, when tea was pure luxury for the super rich. The "afternoon tea" tradition was established by the 7th Duchess of Bedford, became fashionable social event and gave rise to many artefacts, utensils and cakes.

Nowadays the Brits drink around 60 billion cups a year and new studies revealed that the consumption doubles in lockdown.

Traditional afternoon tea is accompanied by dainty sandwiches (including of course thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches), scones with clotted cream and preserves, cakes and pastries. Tea grown in India or Ceylon is poured from silver tea pots into delicate bone china cups.

The tea fairytale inspired great artist like Monet and Korovin, authors like Fitzgerald or Jane Austin. It's not only about the tea, it's about whole philosophy, tradition, art, way of communication. The unforgettable C.S. Lewis said: “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

by Ekaterina Yaneva

KNOW YOUR BOARD MEMBERS

In this series, the members of the ABS Board introduce themselves to the members - with an entertaining reference to their personal connection to the British way of life, to society, community, the United Kingdom in general. Whether current or from the past, always with an emphatic reference to the present, Brexit or not.

Click photograph to enlarge

Our today's guest: Alexander Christiani, former Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the United Kingdom

The photograph, taken in the Austrian Embassy, shows the ambassadorial couple Renate & Alexander Christiani in front of the portrait of Maria Theresa and one of the 18 fireplaces at 18, Belgrave Square, London.

"One of the more memorable moments stood right at the beginning of my London time: I arrived in London late evening from the Netherlands in the last days of June 2000 and immediately found a note on my desk: "Tomorrow at 8 o'clock live-interview with (the famous and dreaded TV moderator) John Humphrys of Radio 4 on the topic: "Is Austria a Nazi-country?"This was to be seen in conjunction with the then international sanctions against our country. Gosh, I though, my London time starts already somewhat turbulent and not very pleasant... The questions then were as tough as the misrepresentations but I though that I came out pretty undamaged.."