Journal

I spent Climate Week in New York, with key events including: the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit on 20 September; a UNGC Breakthrough Innovation parallel event which I co-hosted the day before; our Carbon Productivity Roundtable (again on the 20th), followed by a dinner, downstairs at the wonderful Il Gattopardo; and then various meetings around town with the Covestro team – Patrick Thomas (CEO), Markus Steilemann (CEO designate) and Richard Northcote (Chief Sustainability Officer). All aided and abetted by Lorraine Smith, our wonderful anchor in NYC.

Patrick was speaking as part of a Breakthrough Innovation panel during the UNGC Leaders Summit, for which I had also briefed Alan Middleton (CEO of PA Consulting) who chaired the session. (So I had a vested interest in the thing succeeding, which it definitely did.)

Before that session, a real highlight for me – and I think everybody – was a seemingly extempore speech by Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto. The man who challenged Donald Trump’s assertion that in spurning the Paris Climate Accord he was representing Pittsburgh, not Paris.

Fascinated to visit the Purpose Climate Lab one evening with Richard, steered in by a key contact from IKEA. Met many people I know – and a fair few I didn’t.

On the last day, Friday, Lorraine, the Covestro team and I had a great lunch at Da Noi with Lise Kingo and Lila Karbassi of UNGC. After which I headed across to the Pershing Square Café, for separate sessions with Jed Emerson (who has recently built a 3,000 volume library on capitalism) and Mira Merme (who is developing a vertical farming project in Amsterdam).

Grisly flight back, with Virgin using Delta as a carrier, and Delta shoving me into the worst of Economy seats, despite the fact that I was booked in Business. No apologies. And no intention of flying with either airline in the future, if I can avoid it.

As I flew I was reading Omar el Akkad’s brilliant dystopian novel American War, which didn’t exactly boost my sense of optimism about the deep future – despite having enormously enjoyed the NYC trip overall.

Came across this in Regent Street the other day. Came to mind when the Prime Minister was sitting behind us in Westminster Abbey today. It is so painfully obvious that she doesn’t have what it would take to put the Great back in Britain. But then neither do Johnson or Corbyn.

As my youngest sister Tessa put it on Facebook: “These three all here even though between them they’ve had a small heart attack, a small stroke and an optic aneurysm in the last few weeks. True grit.”

She is the missing wing woman in the photo: a constant fixture at Battle of Britain of Britain functions in recent years, supporting Tim and jollying along the rest.

Mentioned by several people I spoke to: Nigel Rose, another of the Fewer and Fewer, who died on September 10. [His obituary appeared in The Times on 18 September.] Here is on YouTube on the moment he was hit in his Spitfire. Lovely cooing in the background. Symbolic of what they were trying to protect.

Across this morning to join many members of the family at Westminster Abbey for the 77th Battle of Britain memorial service. Tim was one of four surviving BoB veterans who took part – delightfully receiving a standing ovation at one point.

Fascinating conversations with a range of people, including family members of veterans, young RAF volunteers and even an aviation historian.

BoB veteran Tom Neil, who was in the front row, directly ahead of us in the Abbey, quoted here as saying that he and his comrades in arms (or on wings) were survivors, rather than heroes.

The truth is that they were – and continue to be – both.

As Elaine and I walked back across Parliament Square after the Westminster Abbey Battle of Britain service, we passed a group of conspicuously armed policemen and women. As we were approaching the group, another band of women made a beeline for them – and one of them, an American woman, thanked the police for being there.

The police laughed, in an engaging way, and it struck me how – despite all their defects – we have great people in the police force. As a contrast, I imagined what the response might have been in the USA.