Magicians say you should never reveal the secrets of what goes on behind the scenes, but I can share some cheer with a tale about last month’s recording of three Christmas lighting up ceremonies for the City.
Continue readingSheriff of the City of London 2019-2021
Company Of Crowbars
Remarks to:
Alderman & Sheriff Professor Michael Mainelli MStJ FCCA FCSI(Hon) FBCS, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group, Tuesday, 24 November 2020, via Zoom, on the occasion of the first Installation Dinner as Company rather than Guild
Continue readingPolymer Planning – The Responsible Age
Remarks to:
Alderman & Sheriff Professor Michael Mainelli MStJ FCCA FCSI(Hon) FBCS,
Thursday, 1 October 2020, via Zoom
“Polymer Planning – The Responsible Age”
Master, Wardens, Fellow Alderman, Masters of visiting companies, liverymen, ladies and gentlemen:
Continue readingLord Mayor’s Election – Part Deux
As previously reported, it is truly an honour, perhaps the first time since 1228, to be Sheriffs again for another year. Common Hall was held today to (re)elect the Lord Mayor. Unlike the normal 90 minutes or so of ceremony, speeches, and election, this one began at 11:45 and had about 80 physically-distanced livery company Masters, Officers, and Aldermen in the cavernous Guildhall. It took just under 15 minutes.
Continue readingA Life In The Locked-Down Days Of A City Of London Sheriff
Week 26 since UK government lockdown on 16 March – Covid-19 has meant that my Brother Sheriff Christopher Hayward and I, instead of serving one year from September 2019, have been asked to serve two, ending September 2021. We believe this is the first time in almost 800 years (1228 AD?) this has happened. So a summary?
Continue readingPiping At The Post – Twas A Dark And Stormy Afternoon
It was a dark and stormy afternoon…
I’ve always enjoyed Edward Bulwer-Lytton‘s works (honest). Interestingly, while he did provoke opprobrium for the phrase “it was a dark and stormy night“, he equally garnered admiration, leading to a lovely Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for “the funniest opening sentences from the worst novels never written”. How can one express the delight (?) of reading winners such as, “Dawn Esterbrooke looked lovingly upon the gifts which her lifelong childhood friends brought to her wedding shower, but inside her guts churned like an overripe peach in a blender because only two hours earlier she had left a motel with her best friend’s homosexual father.”
by Steve Garman of Pensacola, Florida.
New Sheriffs, Again
My brother Sheriff, Chris Hayward CC, and I were delighted to agree to extend our Shrieval year by 12 months till September 2021 in order to “ensure continuity of leadership”. Equally, this will give us more time, in turbulent times, to deliver our shrieval theme of “Primacy Of The Rule Of Law”. We very much look forward to working with all of the Old Bailey team over the next 17 months. And now no one is, as Pádraig Belton put it, “Sans Sheriff”.
Who Shot The Sheriff? Official Photos
I lived in Brixton in the mid-1980s and love reggae, so you couldn’t expect a two-year term to go by without reference to a great tune by Bob Marley. A number of people have been asking for some decent shots, so I set out four below, two serious, two fun(ny).
Continue readingA Sheriff’s Challenge, To Judge…
Sponsored by the Financial Services
Livery Companies (FSG) and administered by the Worshipful Company of Educators
The Sheriffs’ Challenge is an inspiring initiative begun by our predecessors, a transformational experience for Year 12 students from 12 London schools to compete on delivering presentations with the final at the Old Bailey in Court Number One. Aldermen Peter Estlin and William Russell started this in their shrieval year of 2016/2017. Brother Sheriff Chris Hayward and I set a two-part question and judged the fourth, Sheriff’s Challenge 2020.
Continue reading“The Frontiers Of Education – Some Musings”
Remarks to:
Livery Education Conference – Preparing Young People For The Future
Alderman & Sheriff Professor Michael Mainelli MStJ FCCA FCSI(Hon) FBCS, Tuesday, 3 March 2020, Merchant Taylors’ Hall, London
“The Frontiers Of Education – Some Musings”
Masters, Wardens, Headteachers, ladies and gentlemen:
I have been asked to talk about education of the future, so I’ll start from the past. Exodus 2:22, King James’s Version, says: “And she bare him [Moses] a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, ‘I have been a stranger in a strange land’.”
Continue reading