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Journal entries prior to May 2008 can be found in the old archived site here
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Journal: September, 2008
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Sandwiching Warhol, Yue Minjun and Bacon
Thoughts sparked by Elaine's Warhol verdict
30 September 2008
Campbell's Soup I: Tomato, by Andy Warhol (1968)
Elaine in high excitement because her verdict on Warhol's Tomato soup image appears in today's Times 2, page 5. "For me as an adolescent," her entry admitted, "buying a can of this favourite soup was like buying the key to another glamorous world which I knew existed elsewhere and which I desperately wanted to be part of." She concluded: "Warhol understood human nature and its pitfalls."... more >
Ramsay Gibb
A favourite artist
29 September 2008
Elaine, Sam and I trolled along to a private view this evening at Francis Kyle's gallery in Maddox Street, a long-standing haunt - to see the latest Ramsay Gibb exhibition. Some stunning paintings, including a fair few beautiful, unsettling images of Arctic ice. Of the more local paintings, the one I liked best was of an ancient British hill fort in the Malvern Hills. Talked to the artist on the way out, partly to say thank you for the two canvases we have had for quite a few years, one of them showing the burial mounds at Sutton Hoo, and partly to see whether there is anything we can do to help him give a wider airing to what is happening in the Arctic, where the long-sought North-West Passage is rapidly becoming an unexpected reality. ... more >
An evening with Genghis
27 September 2008
This evening we watched one of the most beautifully shot films I have seen in a very long time, Mongol. The Genghis Khan story. Or a version of it. Must read up on him, particularly since his genetic legacy in European - and then presumably wider - populations was inordinately large. The framing and the colours were out of this world. Can't wait to see the next two films in the sequence.
CPI is 20 - and I feel like 120
... and my thoughts turn to bazookas
26 September 2008
Replica bazooka might work just as well
Quite day, starting off with a session with Charmian (Love) at Accenture, then on to Generation Investment Management for lunch at The Fishmonger with David Blood, Colin Le Duc, Peter Knight and Lila Preston, then back to Volans, and then by train to Cambridge for the twentieth anniversary for the Cambridge Programme for Industry, held in King's College. Lovely to see people like Tim O'Riordan and Polly Courtice, but my bat's ears meant that I couldn't hear people over the sound of the band - and took off home relatively early. Very much enjoyed reading James Benn's WWII novel Billy Boyle as I went. Felt 120 by the time I got home, around 23.30, but finished off the book before falling asleep.... more >
Homo volans over White Cliffs
Uplifting news
26 September 2008
Daily Telegraph's photo of Rossy
Yves Rossy finally made it across the Channel. Elaine was beside herself - loves people who do this sort of thing. Makes me feel a bit better about Volans. I have been saying recently that I oscillate between moments of sheer elation about lifting off with something new, then moments of total vertigo about launching forth on uncertain winds at the age of 59. But I feel Rossy providing an additional bit of lift under my wings.... more >
Fall in Kew
The score with roses
25 September 2008
Detail of Regine Hagerdorn's Rosiers
This week was meant to be something of a break, but I have been working pretty much flat out, with Volans doing a major email out to our contacts around the world - which has had me respnding to hundreds of email replies. Have also been working on a column for Director magazine, an article I'm co-authoring with Mark Lee and the WEC project. So this morning Elaine dragged me off to Kew Gardens, to give me a bit of exercise and get some fresh air in my lungs. And what a wonderful treat it was.... more >
Autumnal fox
20 September 2008
Working away in my study today this morning, I turned around to see a beautiful dog fox fast asleep on our neighbour Bruce McLean's studio roof, its bottom tucked into a clump of bamboo. Elaine missed it, because she was out at the farmers' market, but when she went out again to the cheese shop and returned, he obliged by putting in a repeat appearance.... more >
Felt rocks fly at Volans
Disruptive gift from SustainAbility US
19 September 2008
Sam unpacked a box that arrived from SustainAbility's US team today - and proved to contain, within some extraordinary concertina packaging, 21 coloured felt pebbles or rocks. This was in celebration of the 21 years I had spent at SustainAbility before launching Volans, in which SustainAbility now has a 10% stake. A dangerous gift. Soon the Volans team were attracting each others' attention by letting fly with felt missives.... more >
ACME Climate Mischief
The Power of Positive Living ...
17 September 2008
Quite a day, kicking off with a film crew arriving at Volans to grill me on sustainable cities, then a trip across to Accenture, then a Tube trip back during which I spotted one of the posters for the new ACME Climate Action campaign launched by Provokateur, then several other meetings, then a session at SustainAbility on Brazil, then on with Charmian (Love) to an event at Home House to celebrate the launch of the ACME campaign - and accompanying book published by Fourth Estate. Also profiled at the event was the new TAP campaign for tap water. Nice to catch up with Josh Blackburn, agent provokateur, and a bunch of other mischief makers. ... more >
GRI Board meeting
16 September 2008
Flew to Schipol on Sunday - then train to Leiden - for my first Board meeting with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Held in a little castle with a moat. Outgoing Board members included Born Stigson of WBCSD and Judy Henderson, who I first knew when she was with Oxfam. Jacqueline Aloisi de Larderel, long an ally when she ran the UNEP's trade, industry and economics department in Paris, was also due to step down - but has mercifully agreed to stay n for a year until the new head of the Paris office has the time to take over.... more >
Gaia's favourite ad - and probably mine, too
The oceans strike back
13 September 2008
Yesterday I sent Gaia and Hania a link to a delightful video a Brazilian friend had sent me - and Gaia replied today with a link to her favourite ad, which I agree is quite wonderful. It may be for Smirnoff, and God knows how many of their bottles have ended up beneath the waves, but it's breath-taking to watch and raises the odd issue in terms of how we treat our seas and oceans. Watch the ad here.... more >
First full day at Volans
'No speed limit anymore'
08 September 2008
Cycled in, starting out in weather that almost demanded gloves and yet warming up significantly by the time I was beetling through Hyde Park. My first full day at Volans, at the 2 Bloomsbury Place offices, with a fair old turn-out: Alejandro (Litovsky), Ben (Whitlock), Charmian (Love), Sam (Lakha), Smita (Sircar) and I, most of us beavering away to get the new website ready for the 'soft launch' on Wednesday. ... more >
Bryanston
Two score-plus and counting
01 September 2008
A Volans-like artwork inside the school
After Hod Hill, we decided to pay a visit to Bryanston, which more than any other institution put its stamp on me - paradoxically enabling me to cultivate a spirit of independence. Having made ourselves known, we had the run of the place and the grounds, which was rather extraordinary. ... more >
Hod Hill
Up we go again
01 September 2008
Elaine shoots me as a ghost
The other hill fort that I spent many an afternoon atop during the early 1960s, generally with friends and flagons of cider after cycling across from Bryanston, was Hod Hill. Up we went again this morning, with rain spitting now and then, and the sun blasting through fitfully, with great dark clouds roiling by. ... more >
Clouds
01 September 2008
A glimpse of Hambledon Hill
Awoke to find blue skies, but they soon collapsed into turbulence once again. Still, Hambledon Hill looked splendid as we left for Hod Hill.... more >
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