The McKay Interview

A very special guest for the final McKay Interview of  this extraordinary year – one we are probably all glad to see the back  of – the Swiss Ambassador to the United Kingdom, or to give him his  official title in the UK, the Ambassador from the Swiss Confederation to  the Court of St. James's, His Excellency Mr Alexandre Fasel.

On this week's McKay Interview, Michael talks to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Tatiana Valovaya.

She discusses the future of the UN in Geneva, how the pandemic is affecting the work of the UN and conflicts around the world.

This week Michael McKay speaks to Lorenzo Stoll, Director-General of SWISS International Airlines for the Suisse Romande.

The pandemic has meant major disruptions to airlines around the world due to travel bans - but how is the industry adapting and what is its future?

Michael McKay speaks with Professor Jovan Kurbalija. He is prominent in many important circles in Geneva, in Switzerland and internationally.

Professor Kurbalija is a former diplomat, and has a professional and academic background in international law, diplomacy, and information technology. He has been a pioneer in the field of cyber diplomacy since 1992, when he established the Unit for Information Technology and Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta.

And apart from his day job in Geneva as Head of the DiploFoundation, the Geneva Internet Platform , he lectures on e-diplomacy and Internet governance in academic and training institutions in many countries, including Austria (Diplomatic Academy of Vienna), Belgium (College of Europe), Switzerland (University of St. Gallen), Malta (University of Malta) and the United States (University of Southern California).

Michael's guest is Karel Leeflang. His bread and butter is in leading large-scale transformations, both as a corporate executive and advisor.

And in describing what he does, jargon words and phrases like “global organizational efficiency” and “effectiveness programs” and “ productivity improvement solutions” feature prominently. He has his own firm called StrategyPod, focusing on advisory, analytics and digital solutions.

He has also worked for Barclays Bank, Cadbury Schweppes and Unilever. And he has consulted across a wide range of business sectors.

On this week's McKay Interview:

In neutral Switzerland, Geneva has no military credentials. Just the opposite - being home of the Disarmament Talks since the early 1930s, the United Nations and its predecessor the League of Nations, which rose out of the ashes of the Great War. It is important to look square on at the security issues that confront the world in 2020 and beyond.

Michael talks to the head of the world’s oldest security think tank.

His guest is Dr Karin von Hippel - Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute, known by its acronym, RUSI.

Two years ago in Paris, I recorded a roundtable McKay Interview with people whose fingers were very much on the Parisienne pulse. Very recently, in this year of Covid19, I have done something similar in Geneva, a city struggling to get back on its feet after the lockdown/confinement.

My Guests, to discuss a wide range of relevant and very hard issues in Geneva’s hotel and hospitality industry, are:

Daniel Grangier, Proprietor of Le Milan, in whose restaurant the “Interview” was recorded.

Adrien Genier, CEO of Geneva Tourism & Congress

Thierry Lavalley, General Manager of The Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva & President of the Geneva Hotel Association.

Vincent Subilia, Director-General, Geneva Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Services (CCIG)

The Interview examined their assessment of the current situation; how the short to medium term future looks in their opinion; the changing nature of work; the impact of working from home; Geneva’s dependence on frontalier workers; and the role of government in these difficult economic and commercial times.

This week Michael McKay speaks to Professor Bill Durodie - chair of Risk and Security in International Relations at the University of Bath in the UK.

As Michael discovers, there's a lot more to risk than you may think.

On the return of the McKay Interview after the summer break - no matter where you were on the 4th August, you must surely have been aware of the huge explosion in Beirut. According to Lebanon’s team at the United Nations, the explosion was like 15 years of war in 15 seconds, comparing its impact to the devastation from the country's civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990.

We all know that Lebanon has been living through some of its toughest times in recent history following the October 17th Uprisings, the severe economic crisis that the country is going through, Covid-19 and, as if all that were not enough, the epic explosion.

It cost the lives of nearly 200 people, 7000 wounded and over 300,000 left homeless. Bear in mind listeners that Geneva’s population is 500,000! Just to give you a sense of comparison.

Michael McKay's guest today is Nabil Canaan, a Lebanese-Swiss, who describes himself as a cultural producer, multi-media filmmaker, development consultant and brand marketing professional.

This week, Michael is talking to Bill McCormish. He will  be well-known to many of you. Whether you are Genevois, Christian,  Protestant or just from the UK, you will probably know, or know of, the  Rev. Dr William (Bill) McComish. He is wise and ubiquitous and always a  pleasure to be with. And he has been in Geneva a long time.

He  arrived in Switzerland in the 1980s where he earned his DD (Doctor of  Divinity) in Theology. He then became the Dean of the Cathedral of St.  Pierre Geneva. An important position in this the city of Jean Calvin and  world home of Protestantism. Dr McComish retired a few years ago.

He  is a visiting professor of the History of Religions at the University  of Oxford. His experience in inter-confessional dialogue and mediation  brought him to act in conflict regions in Africa and Asia, namely in  Indonesia.

Among the many books he has written, he is co-author of the Geneva Spiritual Appeal.