Desmond Parker

An episode occurred last year, at the height of the General Debate, when electric power in the North Lawn building failed for several hours, which produced a strange blend of frustration and amusement.

(At the time, the Secretary-General was holding a series of bilateral meetings with Heads of State and Government.) It was indeed very interesting to see several Heads of State and Government, and their entourages, climb four levels of stairs to the Secretary-General’s Conference Room.

(Such events cannot be predicted, and it is the job of Protocol staff to be able to react quickly to smooth things over as much as possible.) It is Murphy’s Law that things will go wrong, but we try to prevent Murphy’s Law from being legal.