The OUSL hosted yet another extraordinarily interesting meeting at
the International School, Luxembourg, at which Janet Morgan talked
about the courageous exploits of a network of Luxembourgers who
conveyed valuable information to the French and British from behind
enemy lines on troop and weapons movements through Luxembourg
during the First World War. The details of this clandestine operation
only came to light a few years ago with a discovery of papers
in a family archive in Britain and Janet has written a gripping
account in her book “The Secrets of Rue St Roch”, which formed
the basis for her talk. With the aid of photographs and drawings
she related how an intrepid Luxembourg lady, Lise Rischard, returned
from Paris to her occupied country and with the help of her husband
and trustworthy contacts set up a formidable network of informers.
The manner in which the information was spirited out of the Grand
Duchy to the waiting intelligence men in rue St Roch in Paris
was in the best cloak and dagger tradition and indeed the whole
story was far more dramatic and compelling than most works of
fiction.
About one hundred people, some of them from the Western Front Association
and ‘Les Amis de l'Histoire’, attended the meeting and were
able to ask questions and buy Janet Morgan's book.
See picture in the Gallery
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The OUSL's first AGM was well attended and the assembly unanimously
voted the membership of the committee of the association. The
evening was marked by an excellent lecture by Professor Marc
Schoelen about the gardens of the Chateau de Mansfeld. We visited
the traces of the Chateau hidden among the modern streets of
the district.
Read the AGM Minutes
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The Oxford University Society of Luxembourg held its first Annual Dinner
at the Cercle Munster, Luxembourg, which was
attended by thirty-six people. We were privileged to have as
our guest of honour Lady Nancy Kenny, Secretary of the Oxford
University Society. After a convivial meal the members and their
guests heard an interesting talk by Lady Kenny on the Society’s
world-wide activities, accompanied by a great deal of generous
advice and encouragement to our young branch. Indeed, she expressed
admiration at how much has been achieved in the short time since
our foundation last year. After her talk she fielded a number
of questions about the fortunes of the University and the challenges
it is facing in the new century.
Read the Chairman's Speech
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The joint meeting with the Luxembourg Alumni Association of ‘top ten’
business schools was held in the European Investment Bank boardroom.
Professor de Graeve spoke with energy and conviction on getting the process
of decision-making right. His talk was addressed to anyone who
aspires to lead. As often happens, a good rule for business
is a good rule for private life. All decisions involve risk.
A good decision aims to achieve a net positive present value,
while a gamble is an action with a likely negative outcome.
He himself staked generously on the outcome of a gambling game
that the other player could, by sound processing, weigh in his
own favour.
His thesis was that a decision should be judged not by the outcome
but by the process. The reason is that, in the long run, you
get better decisions from following better processes than from
banking on the continuation of past good outcomes. This rules
presents a challenge, since it is easier to measure outcome
than to assess process.
A corollary of this thesis is that a firm should reward its managers
according to the quality of their decision-making process, not
by the outcome of the decisions.
His second point was that you should analyse your prospective decisions
and the facts in order to maximise the chance of choosing the
path to a favourable outcome. That does not mean predicting
the outcome. It means assessing the relative likelihood of good
and bad outcomes. A rational decision-maker in business will
choose between options according to the weighted sum of the
present values of all possible outcomes resulting from each
option.
Finally, the decision-making process should take account of the decision-maker’s
tolerance of failure. Where you cannot afford a negative outcome,
it may be better not to take a risky decision, even if the objective
weighted value of the positive outcomes should outweigh that
of the inferior ones. In general, you should weigh outcomes
according to the subjective benefit or damage that they bring.
a href="gallery.htm">See picture in the Gallery
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Members, guests and friends enjoyed a fascinating
day that appealed to the ear, the eye and the mind. It climaxed
at one of Luxembourg's architectural treasures, the remote and
beautiful 10th to 16th century church of St Willibrord at Rindschleiden
and its celebrated frescoes from the 15th and 16th centuries.
After visiting similar frescoes in churches at Bourcy and Bastogne,
in Belgium, the group was given a detailed description of the
Rindschleiden frescoes and their historical context by the eminent
Luxembourg historian and OUSL member, Dr Jean-Claude Muller.
The musical centre-piece of the day was the singing of ‘The Art
of Music’, the well-known vocal ensemble which had prepared
a programme of music ranging from the 9th to the 17th centuries.
Beautifully sung, it complemented the setting of the small country
church and provided a moving reminder of the link with St Willibrord,
the Northumbrian who brought Christianity to this part of Europe
at the end of the 7th century. As Dr Muller remarked, some of
the music was no doubt being heard for the first time in this
church for hundreds of years.
In a more light-hearted vein, Ann and John Overstall and Roderick
Dunnett performed Roderick's entertaining ‘masque’, written
in faultless rhyming pentameters and providing an amusing commentary
on recent events involving Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and
Europe.
A delicious dinner at the Restaurant La Diligence, Arsdorf, featuring
Luxembourg country cooking at its best, brought another successful
OUSL event to a pleasant close.
Read “Homage to Europa”
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The OUSL was privileged to entertain to lunch Sir Tim Lankester,
President of Corpus Christi College, who spoke informally and
in considerable detail about the problems and issues facing
the Oxford colleges in the present economic and social environment.
He spoke about the challenge of being both a British and an
international place of learning, as well as of the financial
implications of maintaining excellence in both teaching and
research. His talk was followed by a lively discussion touching
on such questions as public versus private funding, recruitment
and retention of teaching staff, admissions policy and the governance
of the University.
This was another successful occasion with an excellent speaker and
maintained the high standard that has been set by the OUSL in
its brief existence. It provided an opportunity to make a link
between Oxford and a local school.
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Dr Martin Wolf (CCC Oxford 1965), Associate Editor of the Financial Times and author of Why Globalisation Works, spoke to members of the association and to invited members of staff of the European Investment Bank. The lecture, arranged by the Associaition, took
place at the premises of the EIB. The talk provoked lively discussion.
The clarity of Dr Wolf's exposition was outstanding. The breadth
of his economic vision and the precision of his analysis deeply
impressed the audience.
Read detailed notes on Dr Wolf's talk
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