Category: Work Life

A Works Outing To Middlesex v Essex T20 at Lord’s, 12 June 2008

With many thanks to Charles Bartlett for this picture

After all the excitement of the previous evening’s match, gleaned via internet radio and reported on in near real-time on MTWD – click here… 

…a hefty day’s work, if my appointments diary is to be believed, followed by an informal works outing to the Middlesex v Essex game at Lord’s. No peace for the wicked.

Actually I look pretty bright-eyed and bushy tailed (well, the former at least) in the above photo, given the circumstances of the preceding two or three days.

This evening wasn’t quite in the style of the informal works outings that evolved for T20 matches in subsequent years, but I can see from the e-mail trail that Jez Horne mostly organised the event and that the “10 of us” who eventually showed up included Charles “Charley The Gent Malloy” Bartlett and Nick “The Boy Malloy” Bartlett, as well as Mark Yeandle (see picture), perhaps some other Z/Yen folk and some of Jez’s old friends from school.

Perhaps Jez, Mark, Charles and/or Nick will fill in some more details.

I remember it being a fun evening; especially so for those of us who support Middlesex, because Middlesex won the match.

Here is the scorecard – click here.

In truth, Essex never really got going.

I recall there was some edgy business over Ed Smith’s injury and his request for a runner – in the end that injury proved to be career-ending for Ed Smith; those of us who saw his innings that evening saw his last representative appearance for a first class side. But of course no-one knew the severity at the time.

Meanwhile MTWD had found a match reporter for the evening thank goodness – a young fellow known as johnnyboy – here’s a link to his report.

Update: I have just found the following e-mail from Chas, which suggests that his sense of humour did not extend quite as far as MTWD match reports – his response after I sent him the above link on the Friday:

Oh, so very droll!

I am ok with every thing other than the partisan match reports, much as I appreciate match reports with Middlesex winning, there must be many, many more that Essex were victorious e.g. the county match when Essex won victory from the jaws of defeat, just a few day’s ago.

The match reports that interest me the most (as you well know) are the tuffty/tcs, the TCS/Zyen along with the visits to Lords my myself, Geoff and big Jeff, so behave.

Charles

Whoever uploaded that match report did so at 4:35 the next morning. I’m going to guess that was me. No peace for the wicked. Oh dear, I’m repeating myself; time to stop.

CFDG And Ivan Shakespeare Evenings, 27 & 28 February 2008

On the Wednesday evening I went to the Charity Finance Directors Group (CFDG) 20th anniversary reception at St Paul’s Cathedral. Quite grand it was, but I cannot find the details of the event other than those stated. I think Phil Hope MP might have said some well-chosen words at that event and no doubt wine flowed and nibbles went down.

The next day was an Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner. John Random organised thus:

I have consulted the entrails of a sheep and the signs tell me that February 28th is a good time for the next meal at the Cafe Rouge. Can I have a show of electronic hands please? Who can make it? Who can’t?

I replied thusly:

I similarly consulted sheep’s entrails, and all that told me was that I needed to wash my hands pdq. But the entrails also said “see you 28 February”, which I find a little worrying. I think I might stick to fish or vedge that night just in case.

Unfortunately, John’s roundup from that particular gathering was quite generic:

Just a quick thank you to all those who came out on Thursday night to the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner. Those of you who weren’t there were much missed. I’ll send out the quizzes if you want me to, though.

Another one where the details are lost in the mists of time.

I said the mists of time, not the mists of Tokyo. Gratuitous eye candy, this is.

Three Nights Out In A Row, Culminating With Homayoun Shajarian & Dastan Ensemble at Cadogan Hall, 6 February 2008

Barbat Credit to Galassi at the English language Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Barbat
Credit to Galassi at the English language Wikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0

It was a bit of a social whirl early that week, with two work-related evenings Monday and Tuesday, then an interesting concert Wednesday.

Monday 4 February PEFC Evening at the House of Lord’s

This was a dinner organised by the Programme For the Endorsement of Forestry Certification Schemes (PEFC) about the world’s forest resources. In truth, I don’t remember all that much about the evening. We (Z/Yen and an expert panel) were doing a governance review with PEFC at the time. This event coincided neatly with a day in London with the governance review panel, most of whom attended the dinner in the evening.

I have a vague feeling that Zac Goldsmith might have been the guest speaker for this one, or perhaps I am getting confused with a different evening at the Palace of Westminster. Anyway, my e-mail trail suggests that the evening was a great success.

Tuesday 5 February Monique Gore Evening at the Kiwi Kitchen

This was a fun informal works outing organised by Monique ahead of a relatively long holiday in her native New Zealand.  We went to the Kiwi Kitchen on the North End Road – sadly now closed. It was a fun place and I recall the food being pretty good too. The only on-line Trip Advisor review that I can find (most have been closed down along with the restaurant) says:

“Perfect food, wonderful value for money”
5 of 5 starsReviewed 17 April 2009

Following a trip to New Zealand in January, we were missing the flavours of NZ and since we were in London decided to try out this restaurant. What an absolute gem!!
The food is cooked to perfection and the portion sizes are more than adequate – if you decide to go I would suggest taking a very large appetite!…

My abiding memory was that we had a large contingent of the Z/Yen crowd, not least the UNISON team. Coincidentally, the restaurant had a Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc named Unison on the wine list, which I decided we simply had to choose to mark the occasion. It was pretty good wine too.

I wonder whether Monique took any pictures that evening – she often did – if so, I’ll subsequently up one or two of them if she is good enough to provide them.

Wednesday 6 February – Homayoun Shajarian & Dastan Ensemble at Cadogan Hall

Janie and I were keen to try this Persian classical music, so we made an unusual decision to see a concert on a Wednesday evening (Janie treats patients at home on Wednesdays, so is a reluctant traveller into central London for the evening on a Wednesday).

This concert was worth the trip, not least to see/hear unusual instruments such a the barbat and tar (lute-type instruments), kamancheh (a spiky fiddle), tanbak, dayereh, daf, dammam & kuzeh (percussion instruments).

The Dastan Ensemble – click here for website – are a leading ensemble in their field. A fair chunk of London’s Iranian community turned out for this concert, plus a sizeable minority of interested folk like ourselves. Not all of the audience was reverent in the way a European audience would be for classical music; for example quite a few people moved around or made noise during pieces. Similarly, the ensemble had little sense of London concert timing etiquette, performing several encores and thus keeping us at the hall till well after 10:00 if I recall correctly.

We won’t be rushing to see Persian classical again in a hurry; it didn’t float our boat to the same extent as Indian classical (for example) does. But we were both glad to have tried it, even in the middle of a busy week.

Sir Thomas Gresham Docklands Lecture & Dinner, David Blood, 21 January 2008

This was the first Docklands finance lecture that Michael organised for Gresham College. In theory this was the 2007 one, but it took place in early 2008.

David Blood was the guest speaker. It was a very interesting talk. The Gresham College resources, including the talk, can be found here.

I was an honoured guest at the dinner with David afterwards, which I’m pretty sure was at the Four Seasons Canary Wharf (at the time of writing, April 2020, the Canary Wharf Riverside Plaza).

Good meal and interesting discussion over dinner.

BCS Thought Leadership Debate On Sharing Human Data, Royal Society, 15 January 2008

My role on the British Computer Society (BCS) Ethics Panel resulted in me leading the debate at one of the tables at this Thought Leadership event at the Royal Society.

I was lucky enough to have Onora O’Neill on my table; not only an absolutely brilliant mind for such a discussion but also delightful company.

OnoraONeillChairingWCITColloquiumHouseOfLords26June2013

The idea was that I simply take hand-written notes and then Penny Duquenoy, who ran the secretariat of our group, would produce a write up.

But a few days after the event Penny e-mailed me to say that she couldn’t read my hand-writing at all, so could I provide her with some typed notes. My handwriting illegible – who knew?

Several days of too-ing and fro-ing ensued in an attempt to get my hand-written notes back to me. Eventually they came and I then submitted the following notes, which paid careful heed to the Chatham House rule so I feel perfectly at liberty to reproduce them here. The topic of this debate is all too relevant as I write 11 years later and for sure will remain relevant for some time to come.

BCS THOUGHT LEADERSHIP DISCUSSION ON SHARING HUMAN DATA – TABLE ONE NOTES

• Concern that we do not have privacy legislation in the UK, we have data protection legislation which is not the same thing. We have incoherent case law on privacy and a resulting inconsistency between case law and statute law.
• Principles such as “proportionality” and “need to know” are extremely hard to interpret and we don’t even have formal mechanisms on how to interpret these concepts.
• Discussed the example of patient identifiers at some length – the pros and the cons (as outlined in the introductory talks).
• Discussed “lazy data sharing” – i.e. many of the problems we experience are connected with human error, laziness etc., not information systems themselves.
• Discussed the principle of autonomy, how that differs from privacy etc.
• Discussed the relative merits of “opt out” and “opt in” schemes. Concerns about complexity in both cases – i.e. concerns that both practitioners and subjects struggle to understand such schemes. Opt out often simpler in many ways, but concerns about direct and/or indirect discrimination against those who opt out. US examples cited.
• DNA database discussed at length as an example with many facets. Should everybody be on the DNA database (avoids the discrimination risk). But then how much DNA information could/should reasonably be held to ensure benefits while minimising the risk of misuse. Worried about lack of safeguards, wrongful use of information, over-abstraction (e.g. to the extent that such DNA evidence would be inadmissible in court).
• Discussed Prüm Treaty and its implications for sharing DNA information. Also discussed Passenger Name Record proposal (EU).
• Should each citizen have a unique chip implant at birth? This led on to discussion of ID cards.
• Concern about too much stricture. People like multiple identities without necessarily using same for serious crime, fraud or mischief. Several “close to home” examples were discussed; these are mercifully protected by the Chatham House Rule and the fact that I did not write them down at the time.

Re that last point, it’s not exactly a breach of the Chatham House rule for me to state that I explained my use of Ged Ladd as a benign second identity for the purposes of fun stuff and for communicating with nephews and nieces who, at that time, might have found corresponding with uncles and aunts on (e.g.) Facebook a little embarrassing.

I don’t think it breaches the Chatham House rule for me to reveal that, once I self-outed such use, that more than half the other people at the table admitted that they too, for various benign reasons, use second identities on line for some purposes. Fascinating.

Hirsute Pursuits Over The 2007 Festive Season, 28 December 2007

I went into the 2007 festive season clean-shaven and came out the other side of it bearded.

Before
After

I have been inspired to write this matter up on Ogblog now (in November 2019), as King Cricket has written a very entertaining, speculative piece about cricketer Chris Woakes “rebranding” as a hirsute chap:

Chris Woakes has a beard now and that definitely says something although we’re not exactly sure what

This made me wonder about my own “rebrand” 12 years ago.

I had often before let my facial hair grow for a while, during holiday time, but always previously had relented once work beckoned again or sooner if the itches came before the return to work.

This time I decided to play through the itches and go for the bearded look from the start of 2008 onwards.

I’m not sure I actually made the decision on 28 December, but it was a Friday and I probably at least made a decision not to shave that day before heading off for Sandall Close.

I do recall that Daisy liked the look once it got beyond 48 hour shadow to become a proper, albeit short, beard and tash.

Freudians might point out that the festive holiday in question was the first significant break from work I’d had since my father’s death and I do recall consciously thinking that I wouldn’t have attempted “the beard thing” while dad was alive. I cannot explain that, I merely note it. The same inexplicable/nonsensical rule applied to hats as well.

I especially recall my business partner, Michael Mainelli recoiling at the sight of my new look at the start of 2008. When I asked him why he didn;t like it, he was uncharacteristically lost for words until he finally said:

I don’t really know. I guess I don’t like change.

While on the business angle of this, just for the record, I would suggest that my five most successful years commercially were 2008-2012. Coincidence? Who knows.

Here’s hoping for at least five cracking cricketing years ahead for Chris Woakes from November 2019 onwards now he too is hirsute.

Three Late December Evenings: 15, 19 & 20 December 2007

15 December

Janie and I had Hilary & Chris for dinner at Sandall Close. No doubt they had come up to drop & collect Christmas presents etc. No doubt they stayed and no doubt they disappeared early the next morning when Janie and I went off to play tennis.

19 December

Mansion House. Michael Mainelli had persuaded the City of London Corporation & the Lord Mayor to host a London Accord launch at the Mansion House. This felt like a big deal for Z/Yen at the time. So much so that I bought a stack of copies of The Diary Of A Nobody as the staff’s Secret Santa stocking filler that year, pointing them to the Mansion House chapter/thread in the book.

Any resemblance between Ogblog and The Diary Of A Nobody is purely coincidental.

This Now & Z/Yen piece announced the London Accord Mansion House event. Very grand it was too.

20 December

Back down to earth at Cafe Rouge in Maida Vale for the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner, including the seasonal Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy quiz.

John Random helpfully reported back after the event:

Many thanks to all those who came out to the… I dunno.. the 28th? Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner. (We seem to have settled into a pattern of four a year and we’ve been doing this for 7 years now, so 28 sounds about right.) The occasion was graced by Jasmine Birtles, Caroline Bainbridge, Gerry Goddin, Barry Grossman, Mark Keegan, Colin Stutt, Nick R. Thomas, Ian Harris, Mike Hodd and myself. There were three quizzes. Barry retained the trophy.

For those struggling to imagine what this magnificent trophy might look like – here is a subsequent picture of it (with legends for some subsequent winners):

The Art of Lee Miller followed by Dinner at Cambio de Tercio, Z/Yen Staff Christmas Event, 14 December 2007

Ian and Janie

The above picture, from Cambio de Tercio, is possibly the last photo taken of me before I grew my beard over that Christmas break. I suspect I should be “crediting” Monique for it, or possibly Jez given the proximity of the photographer to Sarah.

Earlier in the evening we had all enjoyed a cultural time at the V&A. Most people followed Linda’s lead to The Golden Age of Couture, but I was keen to see photography instead; The Art of Lee Miller. I think Janie had already seen the couture, so some folk joined us for the photographic exhibition.

Cambio de Tercio is a fine restaurant and we indeed had a very fine meal there.

The song that year was, ♬Santa’s Using PropheZy At Z/Yen♬ to the tune of Santa Claus is Coming To town:

SANTA’S USING PROPHEZY AT Z/YEN
(Sung to the tune of “Santa Claus is Coming To Town”)
He’s made an edict!
He needs to know why!
He’s out to predict,
He will classify;Santa Claus Is Coming To Z/Yen,
PropheZy has done it again,
Santa’s using PropheZy at Z/Yen!Santa’s making a list,
He’s checking it twice,
His model works out
Who’s naughty and nice.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Z/Yen,
PropheZy has done it again,
Santa’s using PropheZy at Z/Yen!

He predicts when you’re not sleeping,
He predicts when you’re serene,
He computes if you’ve been bad or good,
In Support Vector Machine!

A Santa index,
A Santa Claus game,
A Santa benchmark,
The answer’s the same;

IndeZy is coming to Z/Yen,
ExtZy is coming to Z/Yen,
PropheZy is coming to Z/Yen.

The boys and girls in Z/Yen-land,
Want to know the reason why,
Each name has got to start or end,
With a Z and then a Y.

They’re eaZy to use,
They’re peaZy to play,
No sleaZy abuse,
When done the Z/Yen way;

IndeZy is coming to Z/Yen,
ExtZy is coming to Z/Yen,

Here’s Bruce Springsteen’s version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town:

I seem to recall that a very good time was had by all that evening.

A Couple Of Adjacent Evenings, Mike Ward & the Inaugural Payroll Giving Awards, 16 & 17 October 2007

I cannot remember where Mike Ward (from the Actors’ Workshop in Halifax) and I met that evening, 16 October. Perhaps it was the time we went to a restaurant in Kensington. I tried to put him in touch with one or two potential sources of charitable funds after the evening, but the e-mail and physical diary is silent other than that.

The following evening was the inaugural Payroll Giving Awards at the Treasury. I Chaired the panel of judges that year and for the next few years too. Jane Kennedy MP handed out the awards and the event was hosted by a celebrity for the one and (so far) only time; Martin Lewis

I blogged about the event on Now & Z/Yen at the time. The piece is strangely dated Sunday 30 September, which feels wrong for all sorts of reasons – partly because it would be prescient to say the least as I am pretty sure the event was on 17 October – the date shown in my diary. Further, I cannot imagine even in my work enthusiasm back then to have done such work on a Sunday. My guess is that the date got transcribed wrongly on a move from one system to another, or something.

I also have a note about Computing Awards on 7 November, with a question mark crossed out. This might be the evening that Michael picked up an award for PropheZy, our prediction engine. So perhaps that Now & Z/Yen piece was algorithmically written in advance. 😉

Several Minimally, Strangely Or Barely Documented Evenings, Plus A Family Event In Chipping Norton, Late September 2007

20th September: TS Awards

That would be a Third Sector Excellence awards night, at which CharityShare the Best Charity Partnership Award. I minimally wrote a Now & Z/Yen piece about it here at the time.

22nd September: Jacquie & Len’s Yom

Traditional gathering for the breaking of the fast, not that many of us fast. Even fewer this year, as this was the first such gathering without dad. I’m not sure anyone was quite on best form that year with the shock of it all, apart from Jacquie who will have laid on a magnificent feast as always.
Briegal table from a later year but the look would have been similar.

26 September: Middlesex AGM?

This cannot have been the AGM, which has to be in April, so perhaps it was just an end of season forum. Sportnetwork has lost the vital 2007 MTWD reports, but fortunately this one was written by Barmy Kev who sent his report to me for editing and uploading. So here it is:
MTWD Lost Masterpiece: Barmy Kev’s 2007 End of Season Forum Report – Unedited Version, 26 September 2007

27 September Kim & Micky

Janie and I went to see Micky’s new offices in Hatton Garden and then went on for a meal with Kim & Micky. I cannot remember where we ate that time but it might well have been The Bleeding Heart.

29 to 30 September

We went out to Chipping Norton to help Charlie celebrate her 21st birthday. We stayed in the Crown and Cushion, where the event was held. Janie and I took The Duchess with us.

I remember we hated staying in the Crown and Cushion. Several times we hinted to Tony that we’d prefer to stay somewhere else, but he would insist that the management had changed or a refurb had been done since the last time…

…but in truth our sense of the place was that it simply got worse every time we stayed there.

You’re not exactly spoiled for choice in Chipping Norton.

Anyway, it made sense to stay there on this occasion because it was the venue for the big event. The family gathered as did friends and in-laws. Charlie seemed very happy with the event and I recall some informal gatherings before and after the main event to make a bit of a weekend of it.

Janie made some notes in her diary which i think were the original plans for our visit to Cambridge to see Charlie a few months later – which was a better documented and photographed event from our point of view:

Cambridge Weekend with Charlie, 26 to 28 January 2008