News

At a time when solidarity among peoples is more important than ever, the annual Christmas Service of Carols and Readings of the British-Slovene Society attracted a record turnout of members and their friends on 2^nd December.

Young and old filled all the pews of the beautiful Christopher Wren Church of St. Andrew-by-the Wardrobe in London, and took part in the readings and carol singing, led by the Gallus Consort choir under Paul Brisby (who brought his new-born son with him).

Casper and Lara Hill (mother Slovene, father British) sang solos and read in Slovene

Robert Mingay-Smith played the organ, and the service was officiated by the Ven Luke Miller, Archdeacon of London, who is also Rector of St. Andrew-by-the Wardrobe.

Participants donated £306 in a collection for Barka, a charity in Slovenia for children with special needs, which the Society has supported for many years.

Afterwards, we stayed to talk, drink Slovenian wine kindly given by the Slovenian Embassy, represented in person by Ambassador Tadej Rupel and family, and eat traditional Slovenian potica and English mince-pies.

The Ven Luke Miller is assisted with the candles

See gallery with pictures by Ian Božič.

The British-Slovene Society is sad to hear of the death of Ljubo Sirc, one of its most distinguished and long-serving members. He was 97.

Ljubo Sirc was born in 1920 in Kranj and fought with the Resistance in WWII in Yugoslavia.

Subsequently he was considered suspect by the new Communist regime and in 1947 he was sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to 20 years’ hard labour and in 1954 he was released.

He left for Britain and lectured at universities around the world. In 1965 he took up a post at the University of Glasgow, where he then lived. In 1983 he founded a Center for Research into Post-Communist Economies in London.

In 1989 he returned to Slovenia and unsuccessfully stood as a Liberal Democrat candidate for the Presidency three years later.

Back in Britain, he was awarded the CBE for spreading democratic ideas in Eastern Europe.

See https://www.delo.si/novice/slovenija/umrl-je-ljubo-sirc.html

Time: Thursday 17 November 2016 at 6 pm

Place: Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn, London EC1N 2HH

Title: In the Context of the Common Law: The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg

Boštjan M. Zupančič, a Slovenian judge at the European Court of Human Rights since 1998, will talk about differences between British Common Law, under which “like cases should be decided alike”, and the logical reasoning in the Continental legal system. They represent two different cognitive approaches to reality.

Two decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement came into force, Bosnia is not at war. However, the absence of war is not peace. Bosnia has failed to move on from conflict. Political processes are deadlocked. The country is in a state of political, social and economic paralysis. As the international community has downgraded its presence, conditions have deteriorated, irredentist agendas have resurfaced and the outlook is increasingly negative. War remains a risk because of myriad unresolved issues, zero-sum politics and incompatible positions among rival ethno-national elites.

Christopher Bennett, a member of the British-Slovene Society,  presents a cautionary  political history of Bosnia’s disintegration, war and peace process. He concludes by proposing a paradigm shift aimed at building ethno-national security and making the peace settlement self-sustaining.

See full text

Presentations by author:

1st November – London School of Economics

2nd November – De Montfort University (Leicester)

3rd November – University of Oxford

4th November – University of Kent (Canterbury)

Buy for £12.99 with free shipping worldwide

For Members of the British-Slovene Society only:

Notice is hereby given that the The Annual General Meeting of the British-Slovene Society will be held at 7.00pm on Wednesday 27 July 2016 at the offices of:

The Middle East Association

27 St James’s Street / 6th Floor

London SW1 1HA

 AGENDA

 Ordinary Business

1.  To receive and adopt the Report of the Trustees and Accounts for the year ended 30 Sept 2015
2. To re-elect the following  as  a Trustee, who retires by rotation and is offered for re-election:  Michael Chant.
3. To re-elect the following  as  a Trustee, who retires by rotation and is offered for re-election:  Gorazd Kert.
4. To re-elect the following  as  a Trustee, who retires by rotation and is offered for re-election:  Simona Bennett.
5. To re-elect the following  as  a Trustee, who retires by rotation and is offered for re-election:  Mojca Sanjenbam.
6. To re-elect the following  as  a Trustee, who retires by rotation and is offered for re-election:  Igor Cesarec.
7. To re-elect the following  as  a Trustee, who was appointed during the year: Marcus Ferrar.
8. To appoint a Secretary for the forthcoming year. Alan Banes has indicated his willingness to continue in office.
9. To appoint Gray & Co. Partners Ltd as our accounting advisers to hold office until  the conclusion of the 2017 AGM.
10.  Any Other Business

David Lloyd

Chairman                                                                              Dated: 29 June  2016

In case you cannot attend the AGM and wish to vote, please use the Form of Proxy: BSS 2016 AGM Form of proxy