Journal

Just a quick note on one of the many adventures I failed to post on this year, for a variety of reasons – but the most important being that my blog was out of action for well over a month. In any event, today (though this is actually posted on 13 August), I scooted across to the House of Hackney to do a fireside chat session.

Because of a shortage of time, I went by taxi. First taxi driver misunderstood and dropped me somewhere with a similar name, but some way away. Second got it right. Still arrived early and had time to take a look around inside this fascinating business, also a B Corp.

Because of a diary confusion, I had to scoot out of our session slightly before the end to do a virtual fireside chat in Toronto, supporting the candidature of Chloe Brown for city mayor. (In the end, she lost in the election.) Was attracted by her intelligence and wider ambition – and by the fact that Rob Wolloch and her team were building their campaign for office around the triple bottom line.

One of the benefits of being a member of Pi Capital, is you get to meet some extraordinary people. And today I met a number of High Court judges in the Judges’ dining room at the Central Criminal Court. Afterwards, several of us sat in on different jury trials – in my case, that of the driver of a tram that had overturned in Croydon in 2016, killing seven people. The quiet word during the lunch was that the court was sympathetic to the driver, who – it later transpired – would be acquitted later in the month.

Better still, given the circumstances of the accident, the operators were fined a total of £14 million, a clear case of the system being at fault rather than the individual. It turned out that the operators had ignored several previous warnings, including a ‘near miss’ only days before the accident.

Across to Madrid to speak at the South Summit, my first time there. Fascinating reception on the first evening with AI innovators, entrepreneurs and investors at the Palacio de Liria, the traditional home of the Dukes of Alba. Andrew Winston and I listened in growing incredulity as speaker after speaker demonstrated a limited grasp (to put it mildly) of the turbulence the AI sector will face as it encounters wider stakeholder resistance.

For me, though, the high point of the trip was being bussed with some 25 other participants to meet King Felipe VI at his palace outside the city. I have met a fair few royals over the years, but he was head and shoulders above most of them. He greeted each of us in with a handshake; then we sat in a circle for what was meant to be a one hour session, but lasted for several. He answered every question individually, generally with a 4-5 minute reply, and demonstrated deep understanding of a wide range of topics.

By the end, I thought we were using him a but like a human version of ChatGPT. I didn’t ask a question, because I was distracted by fierce itching in my hands, brought on (it would transpire) by the drugs I have been taking recently to ward off the risk of another mini-stroke, or TIA. But then one of my itching hands was shaken again on our way out. I told him it had been a masterclass, and it had.

Drove on from Hill House (and Bledington where we had stayed overnight) to Hay-on-Wye, our first visit there, for the Hay Festival. I was due to do an on-stage conversation in a main venue with Tim Smit of The Eden Project, but the helicopter he was meant to be taking from the Scilly Islands broke down. So I did the session instead with (Baroness) Rosie Boycott, who Julia (Hailes) and I had known since our Green Consumer Days. Great fun.

Later on in our visit, Elaine and I were invited to a reception at Hay Castle. I cheekily asked the Director, Tom True, whether we might take a peek upstairs, and he happily obliged, also kindly inviting along a couple of Americans we had been talking to. Some brilliant exhibits – and a view from the rooftop that underscored just how dominant such fortifications were back in their day. Can’t imagine why we haven’t been to the Festival before, though the pace of life has probably had a lot to do with it.

With another train strike under way, we had to rent an car (turned out to be an Audi A4) to drive across to the Culham Centre for fusion energy, near Oxford. Bumped into Sir Martin Smith – not literally – as he got out of his red Tesla in the Culham car park. Among many other things, he is founder of the Smith School of Enterprise & Environment at Oxford University. (I followed up later – and Louise and then talked to Professor Cameron Hepburn, then Director of the School.)

Fascinating briefing on nuclear fusion, followed by a tour, all organised by the Science Museum, where we have been patrons for some years. I wrote about fusion in my 1986 book Sun Traps, but things have changed enormously since then. For one thing, the private sector is now much more actively involved.

Next we drove across to Hill House to see Gray and Caroline – and were delighted to see how he has rewilded the gardens on either side of the house. Not sure our father, Tim, would have approved, but very much aligned with the zeitgeist.