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Journal: January, 2011

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Flying Around Little Rissington
90 and still up in the air

Tim in back seat of spotter plane

Little Rissington from the air

Shortly after his 90th birthday, my father Tim has been up there again - this time doodling around the landscape at 80mph in the same sort of spotter plane that he was en route to fly over the planned Burma seaborne landings in 1945, but WWII ended when he was only part-way, in Ceylon, I think. And a perfectly horrid job it would have been, too, once again with a very high mortality rate for pilots as they puttered overhead the Japanese. The aircraft he was flown around Little Rissington in had a patched bullet hole in its fuselage, underscoring the point.... more >

Global Competitiveness Forum
Wednesday, it must have been Riyadh

Pre-speakers

Paul Hawken's session

Greenovation session, including Paul Hawken, Janine Benyus and Nick Parker

Bill Clinton's session

Janine, Mabel and Sally

First time I have been in Saudi Arabia, as it was in Abu Dhabi. Fascinated by the region, but the real opportunity in Riyadh turned out to be time spent with the likes of Paul Hawken of OneSun Solar, Janine Benyus of the Biomimicry Guild, Nick Parker of the Cleantech Group, Sally Osberg of the Skoll Foundation and Mabel van Oranje of The Elders. Spent pretty much all the time in the Four Seasons Hotel, doing sessions and meeting people.... more >

Abu Dhabi
Flying visit to the Empty Quarter

Nightscape at Qasr al Sarab

Dawn

Dawn 2

Photo shoot after our session

Off to get my bags

Interior 1

Interior 2

Interior 3

Leaving 1

Leaving 2

Whale skull at Environment Agency

Turtle skeleton at Environment Agency

Roads Back to Singapore
Five intense days

Welcomed to the Old Barracks

Allen, Amy, Kevin, me

Illuminated trees

Darth Vader, Jonathan Kua and team at EDB

I erupt from a flower-pot, or similar

Street sculpture

Aerial view

Aerial view 2, with Amy

Me, up there, taken by Amy

Singapore at night, by Amy

Botanical Gardens 1

Botanical Gardens 2

Botanical Gardens 3

Botanical Gardens 4

Botanical Gardens 5

Fish 1

Fish 2, taken by Amy

Amy (Birchall) and I have spent five days intensively cross-crossing Singapore, speaking at events for the likes of the Civil Service College, the Lien Centre, the CSR Compact and INSEAD. Covered part of the story in a blog for The Guardian here. Among others we met were the Economic Development Board, the Family Business Network and Unilever. A great deal of interest in the city-state in having us back and in our developing Volans Asia 2.0.... more >

Beijing
IIRC meeting In China Club

GRI Chairman Mervyn King at dinner on first night

Wall in China Club

Teapots

Coffee cup

Illuminated floor

Relic: hand-cranked phone

Nameplate

Back to the bus

Illuminated trees outside our hotel

Dawn out at airport, en route Singapore

After frantic last-minute attempts to get a Chinese visa in London, where all sorts of barriers seem to be flung up, the Accounting for Sustainability team swung in and sorted things out. But hadn't known until pretty late in the day whether I would get in to Beijing after my Hong Kong visit. Once I did arrive, though, I almost literally got the red carpet treatment. Was in Beijing for second meeting of the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC), of which I'm a member. Fascinating meeting, on which more anon, in part through a blog that The Guardian will publish this coming week on its Sustainable Business website. Amazed to see how much traffic was already out on the roads of Beijing when I left for the airport in the early hours.... more >

Hong Kong
Stunning views of the most stunning harbour

View as I wake up in HK

Reflected in metal roof over escalator

Reflection in more metalwork

Part of the view from Azita's window

View 2

View 3

View 4

Interior

Outside

Arrived in Hong Kong yesterday to work with Azita Owlia of Bayer today. Project is under wraps at the moment, but the spectacular views from her office over the harbour can't really be considered a state secret. Between working sessions, we spanned the spectrum of cuisine, from a local place more or less in the shadow of the tower Bayer are in through to a farewell dinner in a wonderful hotel restaurant overlooking the bustle of the port. Energising.... more >

127 Hours
A study in courage - now I must rustle up mine

Our eldest daughter Gaia works for Danny Boyle and Christian Coulson, whose latest film is 127 Hours - and it is starting to get the necessary nominations. An extraordinary story of courage in extremis. As someone who has always been a little squeamish, I can't say I can't wait to see it, but am very much looking forward to having seen it. More anon.... more >

C-Curved
Upside down in Hyde Park

Mirroring 1

Mirroring 2

Quite a productive day, though three out of four of us at Volans today are 'flu-struck, and the folk at Prospect downstairs are coughing as though there has been a gas attack down there. Glorious cycle ride in to work this morning, bright blue sky, not too much traffic, and the fall's leaves blowing in great sheets through Hyde Park as I stopped to take in Anish Kapoor's C-Curve in different lighting. Wonderfuel.... more >

2011
Here we go

Have had 'flu these last few days, despite a jab late in what is now last year. Have been working on two books meanwhile: finishing off the 80-page collective memoir for my father, and writing the first few chapters of the new book for Earthscan. Both going well. A sense of the calm before the storm as far as 2011 goes. Not sure what my New Year's resolutions are or should be, though have a sense that catching up with myself should be somewhere in there, alongside taking better care of those around me. Rather think I've been there before.... more >