At 08.00 on a Monday morning I was looking at a graph which showed me the working hours of an anonymous hacker sitting in front of a computer somewhere in the world. This graph revealed that some breaches of cyber security are not the work of an automated robot but rather an attack from a human being. The frequency of attacks displayed a pattern which closely resembled an average working week: Monday was the peak of activity whereas clearly the hacker had enough by Friday afternoon. I was in the company of members of the British Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg, who had gathered at the Ambassador’s Residence for a “Business Breakfast” talk on Cyber Security. The speaker was Dr Adrian Nish of BAE Systems, visiting from the UK to inform Luxembourg-based businesses about the threats posed by cyber criminals, cyber-spies, and cyber activists. It was an enlightening way to begin the final week of my traineeship at the British Embassy.

Dr Adrian Nish speaks at a "Business Breakfast"

The British Embassy’s UK Trade and Investment team promotes goods and services export opportunities overseas for British companies and supports overseas companies who wish to invest in Britain. During my traineeship, I have experienced how the Embassy supports businesses and and institutions in a wide variety of fields to establish and maintain strong relationships between Britain andLuxembourg. Last week I attended a public conference on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), an issue of particular importance to the United Kingdom because we believe that a comprehensive TTIP will help generate valuable European growth. One role of an Embassy is to report back to London local developments on dossiers of UK national interest.

What has struck me most in my time in Luxembourg is how the British Embassy reaches out at an individual level as well as on a global level. While I was gathering together exhibits to display in our exhibition commemorating the centenary of the start of the First World War, I was delighted to receive a number of additional items loaned from local Luxembourg families and British professionals working here. The descendants of one of the railway workers who spied for the Allies offered us a collection of his certificates and photographs. Another individual loaned us items from his newspaper collection. Without the strong established ties between the Embassy and many local contacts we would not have been able to showcase these items and reveal more about the lives of those Luxembourgers who offered valuable support to the Allied cause. 

The Secrets of Rue St Roch provides a detailed history of the espionage network established in Luxembourg in the Great War.

Being here at the heart of Europe has underlined to me the advantages that can be gained through international collaboration. At the Foire de l’Etudiant, I met students from France, Germany, and Luxembourg who were making decisions about where to continue their studies. They had not confined themselves to one country or even studying in their mother tongue but rather they were engaged upon finding the right course for them or studying in a country where they might gain another language. The freedom to move across borders benefits both the individual who can move to find a job or develop a certain skill and businesses which attract skilled workers that boosts the country’s economy.

Working at the Embassy has been a valuable experience that has given me both a brief insight into the complex internal workings of the Foreign Office and British diplomacy while also exposing me at a grassroots level to the British Embassy’s sustained local impact in Luxembourg through a varied programme of political, commercial, cultural and social activity.  It has been a pleasure to work with talented and friendly colleagues and to meet many of the interesting people of Luxembourg. Until next time, Äddi!