Posted on The City of London & Broad Street Ward, Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021

Carry On Sheriffs – End Of ‘Two Term’ Report Card

One Term Sheriffs

We, Chris Hayward and I, have just completed a rare two-year term as Sheriffs, the first two consecutive terms since 1228 AD.  We, and our spouses, Elisabeth and Alex, are still adjusting to having left our Clerkenwell Cottages at Old Bailey, with 18 courts, 400,000 square feet of offices, 74 jail cells, two cabinets of medieval torture equipment, and no television, and have moved back to our homes.  It’s nice to have television, and to be able to call our former ‘consorts’ ‘spouses’.

Continue reading →
Posted on Technology, Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021

Strengthening & Simplifying Anti-Money Laundering In The UK

Closure Report On “The Sheriffs Of The City Of London & The Financial Services Group Of Livery Companies’ Anti-Money Laundering Taskforce 2019-2021”

Overview

The City of London Sheriffs for 2019-2021, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli and Chris Hayward CC, chose “Primacy of Rule of Law” as their shrieval theme.  Connecting this primacy with ordinary businesspeople, they chose to use the convening power of the Sheriffs’ office to promote discussion around “strengthening and simplifying anti-money laundering” (AML) in the UK.  This is based around a core challenge increasingly important to the economic health of the UK:


“If the UK is open for business, then try opening a bank account?”

Professor Michael Mainelli
Continue reading →
Posted on Sailing Through Life, Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021

Sheriffs Ahoy

At 10:15 on Friday, 1 October 2021, at Temple Pier, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman William Russell, piped away his two Sheriffs, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli and Chris Hayward CC.  Having completed an extraordinary two-year term of office, the first time since 1228 AD, the two Sheriffs boarded the City of London Corporation Thames Waterman ​cutter to be rowed away downriver and out to sea by a rowing crew under the command of Jon Averns, Director of Markets & Consumer Protection [don’t worry, they were safely ashore at Tower Pier about 11:00].

left to right: Michael Mainelli, Elisabeth Mainelli, Hilary Russell, The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor Alderman William Russell, Jon Averns, Christopher Hayward
Continue reading →
Posted on Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021

Carry On Sheriffs

Well, all good things come to an end, and after two years rather than one, a good one.

Our address to Common Hall was as Carry On Sheriffs for our Late Sheriffs Reply To Vote Of Thanks

Common Hall, Wednesday, 29 September 2021, Guildhall

Election of Alderman Vincent Keavney as Lord Mayor Elect, Guildhall, City of London, United Kingdom, 29th September 2021

Two “muted” signs in front of microphone stands.

Continue reading →
Posted on Life As We Live It, The City of London & Broad Street Ward

Biodiversity Shouldn’t Have To Pay Its Way

Remarks to: Pollinating London Together, Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers & others, 16 September 2021, Mansion House, by Alderman & Sheriff Professor Michael Mainelli.

Lady Mayoress, Masters, Aldermen, Ladies & Gentlemen:

As a teenager, I worked in a family bee business with some 300 hives at one point.  I was delighted as I rode by Drapers’ Hall yesterday, on my Ride Round The Range with seven of the HAC Light Cavalry and two police horses to go through my ward of Broad Street.  One of the most entrepreneurial wards where, earlier this year, one of our cannabis businesses was shut down, otherwise the two hives on the roof of Mansion House might be famous for some infused products.

Continue reading →
Posted on Life As We Live It, Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021

Alderman & Sheriff Professor Michael Mainelli’s Ride Round The Range Of The City, 15 September 2021

We, Michael & Elisabeth, must thank everyone most warmly for their fantastic support last week.  We truly appreciate everyone’s contributions, whether financial, organisational, or libational.  We had a simply wonderful time, and a terrific closing event for our two years in the Old Bailey.

Continue reading →
Posted on Life As We Live It, The City of London & Broad Street Ward

Baking On Technology

Remarks to: Worshipful Company of Bakers Livery Lunch,
Wednesday, 1 September 2021, Bakers’ Hall, London, by Alderman & Sheriff Professor Michael Mainelli.

Master, Alderman, Brother Sheriff, Warden, Ladies & Gentlemen,

Well, we are back at a physical event at last and no longer have to utter those immortal words ‘you are on mute’!  As someone suggested to me last week at the Central Criminal Court, it feels a bit like ‘being let out of prison’.

Continue reading →
Posted on Life As We Live It, Economist Letters

For all intensive purposes

For all intensive purposes

Johnson’s wry note suggested replacing “one fell swoop” with “one foul swoop”. Macduff wails in Macbeth, “Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens and their dam, At one fell swoop?” Shakespeare is using an avian metaphor to compare the murder of Macduff’s wife and children to a hawk suddenly swooping down on defenceless prey. Surely “one fowl swoop” is to be preferred?

Professor Michael Mainelli
Emeritus Professor
Gresham College
London

7 August 2021 – https://www.economist.com/letters/2021/08/07/letters-to-the-editor

Posted on Sailing Through Life

Perfectly Normal?!

Remarks to: the Company Of Watermen & Lightermen, on paddle steamer Elizabethan, on 8 July 2021.

Master, Wardens, Fellow Freemen, Ladies & Gentlemen.  Thank you Master for inviting me to join our company on this evening, as we pay tribute to the immense service Colin and his team have given us over the past quarter of a century.

People in the livery sometimes ask why I am a craft-owning freeman of the Watermen & Lightermen.  I am proud to say as a sailor and rower that water runs in my veins, and that having owned a Thames sailing barge, the Lady Daphne, for over two decades, some of that water in my veins definitely comes from the Thames.  In fact, next week, I’m giving a lecture to the Guildhall Historical Association on the economic history of the Thames, the lighters, and the barges.

Continue reading →