Welcome to my journal.
Get an insight into my day-to-day work and my perspective on key issues.
The Role of Universities in Global Security
I was honoured to be invited to give a lecture to educationalists, policy makers and students at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. I had been asked to consider the role universities have in global security by wearing my new hat as Chancellor of the University of Reading.
A New Kind of Chancellor for the University of Reading's Second Century
In May 2022 I was appointed as Chancellor of the University of Reading, the ceremonial head of the University. I am the ninth person to hold the position in Reading's 96 years as a University, taking over from the current Chancellor, William Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, who has held the post since 2016. I wrote this blog to set in context of a reflection on what kind of Chancellor I hope to become...
Why I joined Labour…
Inspired by Rachel Reeves’ speech on making Britain the best place to start a business, today I signed up to be a member of the Labour Party, pledging to do all I can to ensure a Labour Government is elected at the next General Election.
Just IMAGINE if... 2022: Ideas to Solve Global Challenges
New Ideas. Where do they come from? When we have a new one, why hasn't anyone thought of it before? How is it that some develop into reality and others don't? Is it possible to solve global problems without new ideas becoming reality? I don't think so, and so they fascinate me.
Healthy Leadership: TESCO's Golden Opportunity
Right now, the UK's largest retailer has a momentous opportunity to improve the health of the nation. The opportunity is not only to support the health of their own customers, but also those of their competitors. How, you ask?
A Resolution to an Unhealthy Problem
In December I took the plunge and invested £4.80 in two TESCO shares. You'll know that TESCO is the UK's biggest supermarket with a 27% market share. It's a really important company to the success of the British economy: employing over 300,000 people and operating over 4,000 stores in the UK alone and selling us over £50Billion of food each year (Statistica.com 2016). As the founder and former CEO of a company supplying into the behemoth, I know what clout the company has not only in the supply chain of British retail, but in what foods we eat as a nation. It's not an exaggeration to say that the decisions it takes affect us all.
Putting Children's Healthy Weight Centre Stage in 2021
Every Child a Healthy Weight raised the curtain on a city-wide stage for this influential cast of actors to take action. The aim was, together, this cast would start to unleash a transformation so that every child has every chance to grow up eating healthily, drinking plenty of water and being physically active wherever they live in the city.
Everything is Connected
I see the people with expertise of how a specific system is created and operates, of lived experience within that system, and of research and knowledge of that system. Such people must share their understandings with others to fully appreciate their connectedness, perspective and impact on each other. And of course, there is no reason the same individual people can't be in different systems: we all live our lives in a world in which all systems connect with us every day. The trick, as I see it, is to create opportunity for people to see what is.
A Letter to my 15 Year Old Self
Last month I was privileged to be the guest on Holly Tucker's podcast series: Conversations of Inspiration. Which, in 60 minutes, covered a range of subjects centred around business being the key to solving society's issues. Listen HERE.
For the episode I'd been asked to write a letter to my 15 year old self, which I found really hard not to write as though to my children: with the faux sage advice of a father who had, like us all, actually largely stumbled his way through from growing up to getting grey hairs. I've had kind comments about it, and requests to see it written down. So, I thought I'd bare my soul and share it in audio and in black and white here. Gulp.....
Letter to the Prime Minister regarding Child Obesity
I am writing in my role as Chair of London's Child Obesity Taskforce, as I was interested to hear that we have both been considering the emerging evidence on the detrimental impact obesity has on those suffering from Covid-19. Of course, we have known for some time that being overweight or obese has a devastating impact on an individual's physical and mental health; with 11,117 directly related hospital admissions recorded in 2018/19. In 2018, in England 28% of adults were obese and 3% were morbidly obese.
