A Rather Gourd Looking Specimen

It’s just a jump to the left … and a sharp knife to the right. Not your usual carving. But then, nor was the original production. Kiss me Magenta.

Nature Needs Markets, Not Fan Clubs – Thoughts Ahead Of COP 31

Remarks to Panel: Can the UK Truly Become a Sustainability Superpower — or Is That Political Rhetoric?

CC Forum, Mayfair Hotel, London

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

First my sincere thanks to CC Forum for all their hard work, especially to our dear friend Max Studennikoff.

I have been worrying about climate change since the 1970s. In those days, worrying was unfashionable. Today, it’s a global industry. We have conferences, declarations, acronyms, badges, and rather good lanyards.  What we lack is delivery.

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Ruby Slippers & Rocket Fuel: 40 Years Since Big Bang

Forty years after Big Bang, on a Ruby Tuesday, I skipped the early morning event at the London Stock Exchange where nearly 200 people arose to ring the bell. However, my good friend George Littlejohn was undeterred from making sure I enjoyed myself chairing a proper City lunch at The Don on St Swithin’s Lane, just like the old days in the 1980’s. It really was enormous fun and we did indulge a bit. Remarks to:

Big Bang London: 40 Years On — 27 October 1986

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Gaslit By An AI?

So there you are reading a book when you want to go back to find a reference to Paul Samuelson’s remarks on epsilon and Gertrude Stein, but you can’t seem to find it. Naturally, you consult the index on Stein and Epsilon – far too many references to Samuelson. Then you come up with an idea, ask an AI where the reference is in the book. But this leads to a scary conversation with Google Gemini …

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Pepys Day 2026: There He Goes Again!

Pepys Day 2026 takes place on Friday, 4 September 2026. The event features guided walking tours and historical ceremonies commemorating the diarist’s accounts of the Great Fire of London – https://bit.ly/4opBzvS.

In September 1666 the Great Fire of London swept through the City. Man-about-town Samuel Pepys witnessed and recorded the events of that extraordinary week. The fire started at 01.00 on 2 September and by mid-morning Pepys was writing about it in his diary. The fire was put out on 6 September.

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