We concluded our bi-monthly series of Mayor’s Progress reports with our final report card. Though any Lord Mayor wishes she or he could claim credit for creating jobs (makes it worth all those dinners, speeches, promotional activity, videos, overseas visits, etc.), in fact, during this year as Lord Mayor, from November 2023 to November 2024, jobs in the City of London increased from 615,000 to 678,000 – yes, in just one year, an increase of over 10%! Of course, had it gone differently, “In trying circumstances, we did …”.

On 11 September 2023, the Spitfires Past Masters Association 2018 (my livery group from my time as Master World Trader 2017-2018) got together with me at The Walbrook Club. Here is Mark Grove handing me a thoughtful gift.

As part of this year’s experiments, here’s one we did at Mansion Home.

A long-term concern of mine has been the old building infrastructure of northern Europe. Our buildings are not made for cooling in summer. I’ve had a few ideas over the years, but had a chance this year to try one out, thermochromic paint. We could paint rooftops white, but that then leads to loss of heat when needed in winter. Why not have paint with a high albedo when hot and a low albedo when cool?