Austria

Austria’s far right is shut out of power, again

24 October 2024 9:52 pm

Austria’s mainstream politicians are combining to ensure that the winners of last month’s general elections, the far right Freedom party…

Austria is becoming a nightmare for the unvaccinated

15 January 2022 7:30 pm

Salzburg, Austria Across Austria, the streets are alive with the sounds of drums and cow bells. Ever since the Austrian…

Europe gripped by a fifth wave

23 November 2021 9:03 am

How quickly things change. Just a month ago many EU countries were being praised for keeping some Covid restrictions in…

The fifth Covid wave could break Macron

23 November 2021 6:40 am

The fifth Covid wave has started in Europe. Some governments are already imposing lockdowns and wage cuts for the unvaccinated…

The trouble with Austria's vaccine passport plan

9 November 2021 12:05 am

Are vaccine passports being used in other countries in an attempt to cut Covid infections – or to try and…

Love in a cold climate: Snow Country, by Sebastian Faulks, reviewed

6 November 2021 9:00 am

In the months before the outbreak of the first world war, Anton Heideck arrives in Vienna. Family life offered him…

Austria's 'Islam map' is dangerous

3 June 2021 7:35 pm

Austria’s government has unveiled a map detailing the locations of mosques and other Muslim associations all over the country. The…

Germany's border controls risk an EU rupture

15 February 2021 11:34 pm

On Sunday, Germany halted most travel for those moving between the country and its neighbouring Czech Republic and Austria. After the…

Europe’s cities are becoming a refuge for Islamist extremists

6 November 2020 6:00 pm

Britain’s terror threat level has been upgraded to ‘severe’ this week, following jihadist attacks in both France and Austria. Raising…

I went to hell and back to meet my new granddaughter

6 June 2020 9:00 am

Wolfsegg, Austria I have finally understood what’s wrong with the modern world: motorways. These dehumanising slabs of asphalt covering our…

Swanky, stale and sullen, the summer music festival has had its day

23 May 2020 9:00 am

The summer music festival has had its day, says Norman Lebrecht

One of those films that never seems to end: A Hidden Life reviewed

18 January 2020 9:00 am

Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life is a historical drama based on the true story of Franz Jäggerstätter, an Austrian who…

The Linz skyline

Tuning up to Linz

5 January 2019 9:00 am

You never know who you might meet on a river cruise. It was my 89-year-old father-in-law, Noel, who first recognised…

Bad Ischl: the spiritual home of Viennese operetta, and where Franz Joseph signed the declaration of war on Serbia

Operetta is serious business in Bad Ischl – and seriously glorious

25 August 2018 9:00 am

It’s the lederhosen that grabs you first. Two gents were walking down the street ahead of us in full Alpine…

Is it time to move to Austria?

30 June 2018 9:00 am

Schloss Wolfsegg   I was watching two very old men slowly approaching the open doors of the Pilatus airplane I…

Even fruitcakes and fascists are more popular than the flaccid centre

28 May 2016 9:00 am

A depression has settled on the Liddle household ever since Norbert Hofer narrowly failed in his bid to become the…

My day as the only Eurosceptic at the finishing school for Europe’s elite

28 May 2016 9:00 am

I was in Paris last week to take part in an EU referendum debate at Sciences Po, a French university…

My groaning swimming costume – and David Aaronovitch’s

19 March 2016 9:00 am

To while away the time at airports, I like to spot celebrities. But pickings have been slim. Where is everyone?…

What’s it like to have a Nazi for a father?

21 November 2015 9:00 am

This is a documentary in which three men travel across Europe together, but they’re not pleasurably interrailing, even though there…

My Schubert cruise was a transport of delight

17 October 2015 8:00 am

Michael Henderson is transported to raptures on a Schubert cruise

Merkel’s grandstanding on Syrian refugees will lead to many more deaths at sea

12 September 2015 9:00 am

By making them more likely to attempt the perilous journey to Europe, the German chancellor is luring would-be migrants to their deaths

Fischer’s is like visiting Vienna without having to go to Austria (thank God)

6 September 2014 9:00 am

Fischer’s is Austria made safe for liberals, gays, Jews and other Untermenschen riffraff, because it is a restaurant, not a…

Any other business: trouble spots in European banking

19 July 2014 9:00 am

‘1914: Day by Day’, the Radio 4 series by the historian Margaret MacMillan, is a gripping reminder that significant global…