Last week, I was delighted to attend a talk given by Sir
Nigel Sheinwald. The former UK Ambassador to the USA (and
former UK Permanent Representative to the EU) was in Luxembourg to give
a talk for the Oxford University Society of Luxembourg, on the topic of
‘Britain, Europe and the World: present dilemmas and future decisions.’ It was
very interesting to hear his perspective on such matters, especially given his
professional proximity to the people, organisations and countries involved in
many of the issues of which he spoke.
 |
| University of Oxford |
In the discussion that followed, British people’s
perception of the EU was discussed. As this group of predominantly older Britons and Luxembourger Oxford graduates
discussed why there were so many eurosceptics in the UK, and to what sort of
information young Brits were being exposed, I felt like I ought to raise my
hand and say ‘hello, young Brit, here…’, but they actually nailed the issue on
the head without my help: the usefulness of the EU is barely publicised in the
UK, whereas its few disadvantages are preyed upon and strung up as a grim – and
slightly misleading – warning to us all. It seems to be a matter of awareness,
and it’s a shame that such discussions aren’t had on a broader scale in the UK
itself.
 |
| The European Union flag |
After this talk, the British
Ambassador hosted an informal dinner at the Residence in honour of Sir Nigel, which gave those
present the opportunity to discuss in further detail the ideas brought
forth in the talk (amongst other things, of course). There were fourteen people
present, and every single one of them had an entirely unique perspective on
every topic of conversation, having come from all sorts of different
backgrounds and had a variety of completely different experiences. That is one
of the things I have found about Luxembourg: there is a wealth of diversity
here, and it is great.
***
This diversity is visible in every single vein of
Luxembourg life: I went into a shoe shop the other day, and after confessing to
the sales assistants that I spoke no Luxembourgish, was promptly re-greeted in
English, and good English at that! Not only that, but most films at the cinema
are shown in their original language, with a relevant combination of English,
French, German and/or Luxembourgish subtitles (which is a great excuse to go
often, because it’s therefore technically educational…). There are ways of
settling into this place no matter where you come from or what language you
speak (well, ok, there are some limits to how multilingual everyone is).
 |
| EU flags flying before the European Parliament |
This is great for places like the theatre, as I
experienced in my first week at West Side Story, but also for the Luxembourg Philharmonie, which is able to welcome a vast array of English-speaking
talent without worrying about a drop in ticket sales. This was evidenced by
their hosting of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, who only went
and, you know, sold out.
 |
| Luxembourg Philharmonie |
I was very excited to go along to this, because some friends of mine are Ukulele players, and I had therefore heard good things about the troop. Good things which turned out to be true, I might add. The colourful range of songs on their set list and their witty choreography were only outshone by two further aspects of their performance: firstly, the complexity of the layered arrangements, at which one could only marvel (think Pitch Perfect, but with EIGHT SONGS ON THE GO SIMULTANEOUSLY); and secondly, crucially, their bewilderingly enduring manual stamina! The non-stop speed at which they twanged away together was unbelievable, and that is without so much as mentioning the rapidity of the solos and the fact that each member had to sing as well. They deserve serious kudos. However, it was not just awe at their skill that made the evening enjoyable. Despite having been playing together for nearly thirty years, their material was fresh and buoyant. There were songs by Adele and Daft Punk, featured amongst hits by David Bowie, Lou Reed, and even Frank Sinatra. There was even a whistling interlude. Possibly my favourite rendition of the night, though, was an acapella ‘folkalisation’ (yes, that is a made-up word, but how else will language evolve?) of The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’. You’d have thought the song had originated in medieval Scotland, or had been written for the soundtrack of Braveheart. ‘Twas bonnie.
 |
| The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain |
Note with reference to the title: we Brits pronounce each of the four vowels differently: 'you-kuh-lay-lee'. German is far more logical: it goes 'oo-koo-lay-lay'. Something I realised when talking to a German friend who was baffled by our linguistic silliness.
