Michael Weingartner

People walked slowly around the exhibition, looking at the images and sculptures and it was clear that some of the work was sparking conversation. The audience was eagerly awaiting the art opening of the Shelter Project at Soho Projektwerkstatt in Ottakring, Vienna.

It doesn’t normally get any weirder than this. In politics, there are always problems that remain unsolved, decisions that are eternally postponed because no one wants to take responsibility. Generally, politicians tend to fear responsibility, because one misjudgement may mean the end of a career. This is especially true when dealing with highly sensitive cases, which are often not made public at first, to minimize criticism.

Such behaviour is bound to backfire – as it has with Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter’s proposal to build a fourth intake center for asylum seekers in the town of Eberau, Burgenland.

The President of the Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC), Leo Wallner, resigned in early September following accusations on holding back information concerning the abuse of committee funds by former the Secretary General.

Wallner resigned following an internal audit by the ÖOC in late 2008, which revealed that former Secretary General Heinz Jungwirth had embezzled €72,000 worth of funds.

The World Health Organization regards the Austrian health care system as one of the best in the world according to its 2006 annual report.

So how come it is possible that a woman with a slipped disk is released from the hospital within 48 hours, with no referral to rehab – when her husband, with different insurance and no current injuries, is given one?

Paul Macey has no patience for all the excuses, all the longwinded, contorted explanations as to why there are so few journalists with a migrant background in the mainstream media. In Britain, his voice of conscience is heard as a steady prod to the powers that be, and things are beginning to change.