Category: extracurricular

As an educator it’s a real priviledge to have the opportunity to engage with so many ambitious and intelligent students. My colleagues that teach on PhD programmes tend to have lists of their former students (I even appear on one!) but working in a business school means that I don’t produce future academics. I do, however, look on with pride when I see the achievements of former students in their professional careers.

A Krupnik Medal (🏅) is my way of saying “well done!”

Krupnik Medal holders:

• Marko Obrknezev – operations manager for Heinekan, reusing sensors developed as part of his Masters thesis to help track and trace covid-19.
• Marta Sjogren (Skundric) – a principle at Northzone, in the VC industry, and a great project leader. Here’s a 2016 interview. Follow her on Twitter.
• Vikas Gupta – distribution management at AXA and a great host when I visited Delhi. Follow him on Twitter.
• Stasa Podgorsek – Business Intelligence for IBM in the Middle East, and doesn’t even need a watch.
• Matej Golob – consultant for lean startups (founder of 30lean.com) and ran a marathon in a suit. Follow him on Twitter.
• Aco Momcilovic – Chief Human Resources Officer at Rimac and President of the MBA Croatia club. Follow him on Twitter.
• Dina Pestonji – motivational speaker with nice taste in wine. Watch her incredible TedX talk here. Follow her on Twitter.

To nominate someone, or reconnect, email me!

In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”
“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”
“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present.” But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil.

When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

Source. (See Martin Wolf’s re-telling of the Ant and the Grasshopper as a modern fable here).

I endorse Chris Dillow’s four general principles of investing:

1. Live within your means. The safest way to get rich is to save. How you invest your savings – cash, shares, gold, whatever – is a secondary consideration, unless you are really silly.
2. Minimize taxes and charges. Most people can save tax-efficiently through ISAs and pensions, and should do so. Also, don’t be tempted by high-charging funds – they are usually not worth it. And if you hold shares directly, don’t trade much.
3. Remember that high prices, on average, mean low expected returns. Don’t jump on bandwagons.
4. Remember G.L.S Shackle’s words: “knowledge of the future is a contradiction in terms.” Don’t pretend you can see what’s coming. And don’t pay others in the belief that they can do so. The essential fact about the financial world is risk (and/or uncertainty). The key question is: what risks are you prepared to take, and which aren’t you? This paper by John Cochrane discusses this well.

I like Harold Pollack’s attempt to put financial advice on a 4×6 index card:

Photo by Harold Pollack

I recommend this investment philosophy from Jim O’Shaughnessy.

And I enjoyed listening to Bill Ackman channel his inner Warren Buffett to explain his approach to (and his defense of) activist investing: #413 – Bill Ackman, Lex Fridman podcast, February 20th 2024.

Many people will say that they want to take more control over their current spending and future financial security, but often find it difficult to actually achieve this. I’m not a qualified financial adviser, I can’t demonstrate past success at investment decisions, and I do not encourage you to blindly follow my advice. All I can offer is a process by which you can gain a better understanding of your personal finances, and something that seems to work for me.

You probably don’t have time to follow these steps now. So find a date a few weeks or months from now and put it in your diary. Don’t shift it. Treat this seriously. Do it when you have time…

Preamble

Picture yourself at 65, and make it as vivid an image as possible – not so much what you look like, more where you are and what you are doing (for more on this approach see Chapter 9 of this book). A large reason why people are careless with their financial situation (and constantly undermine their future happiness) is because we’re conditioned to focus on immediate rewards. But we need to shift perspective and think about what actions your present self needs to take in order to make your future self happy. What resources do you need to deliver to your 65 year old self? Picture your children at 20. What do you want to be able to give them? Having to adjust your future goals to meet your financial resources is failure. Adjust your present behaviour to hit your targets.

Practice self-control and delayed gratification. If you want to watch a movie, try waiting a few days. Treat it as a reward.

In

• Go through your last 6 payslips and use your typical (i.e. not including bonuses) net (i.e. after tax) income. Unless bonuses are a significant part of your regular income then treat them as a bonus and save them.

Out

1. The only outgoings I measure are household bills. To do this I check all of my direct debits and fill in a summary sheet (download a PDF here). If I have a DD I put the amount in the “monthly DD” column. If I pay it annually I put it in the “annual” column and then write the month in which it is paid in the “Month” column next to it. Ideally these are spread out throughout the year. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate the “annual sum” and then there are two figures for “monthly sum”, which are the total of all the monthly DD payments and the total of the annual payments divided by 12. Finally, the “monthly total” is the sum of those two numbers, revealing how much I spend on household bills, on average, every month.
2. My wife and I use our joint account for those bills and only those bills. I make sure that we have a standing order that exceeds this amount going in at the beginning of each month.
3. In addition to household bills our main spending areas are: food, petrol, commuting, clothes, other. I am fortunate enough to not have to keep track of these, however if I did I would use the budget feature in Monzo to do so.

Shake it all about

• Once a year I update an overview of my net wealth (download a PDF here).
• If like me you’re lucky enough to own your own home, this is likely to be the biggest component, and I use a rough estimate of the market price less the outstanding mortgage. I own shares in 2 companies and list these based on the current share price. The investment ISAs include managed funds as well as an easy access Vanguard account. (If it takes a long time to find a current balance then perhaps that’s a problem. But then again, if you’re checking them more than once a year that may also be a problem. You want to “Set it, and forget it“.) We have savings pots in our Monzo accounts for things like holidays and the sum of those 5 categories is what I consider to be my net wealth. A decent proportion of net wealth is pensions and this can be hard to measure, but most providers will show a current value. Make sure you max out any matched contribution and have a figure as hugh as you can afford (>25%). Below that, I include the balance of my children’s Junior ISAs which is nice to know, but not “our” wealth.
• I don’t include the balance of current accounts because these tend to be low and volatile. Monzo pots have been a real help to allocate specific spending commitments, such as holidays, Christmas, kids extra-curricular activities, car maintenance, house maintenance, and vets bills.

Some general comments:

• Get a good credit card. Make sure you pay it off each month but make sure you’re getting rewards for spending. An easy way is to link it with Airmiles.
• For advice on what type of pension, life insurance, and savings vehicle are appropriate for you consult a professional financial advisor (this is helpful). If you don’t think it’s worth paying a few hundred quid to sort out your financial future then you’re an irresponsible idiot!
• It is really important to start saving early. “Someone who starts saving at the age of 21 and then stops at 30 will end up with a bigger pension pot than a saver who starts at 30 and puts money aside for the next 40 years until retiring at 70“. Also look at the calculators here.
• Have a look at the interest rates you’re paying. Make sure that you pay off your most expensive loans first.
• Act as though the Efficient Market Hypothesis is true (see the second half of this page). The best investment strategy is a low cost well diversified index fund. Vanguard are the original and remain the best (and even after the turmoil in Spring 2020, if your goals are long term you shouldn’t even be looking at it). I use the FTSE Global All Cap index, although
  • The ESG Developed World All Cap Equity Index Fund is very similar but reduces emerging market risk (I think).
  • The Lifestrategy 100 is more UK based, which reduces exchange rate risk.

Student loans

I didn’t have a student loan and know they’re controversial, but according to Martin Wolf (2023, p. 285) in an ideal world…:

• Lower fees (£9k is too high)
• An equity component to the contract such that higher earning students pay more than their loans

Finally

This advice for personal financial can be extended to life more generally. Here’s an example of a pre-mortem for personal decisions:

I don’t enjoy being asked to make donations to charity, and not solely because I’m a tight, selfish bastard. It’s because it’s a form of bullying – you are put under social pressure to make a quick decision.

My response is to have an articulated approach to charitable donations, which serves as a defense mechanism and means I can avoid treating each request as something that requires my attention. I prefer to have a charity rule, rather than have to judge each request on its case-by-case merits. In a nutshell here it is:

Perhaps some points of explanation and elaboration are in order:

• I believe that the best way to help people out of poverty is through economic liberalisation. I find the empirical and theoretical evidence compelling, and devote my career to pursuing it. This sounds glib and self-satisfying but writing a book about the power of markets is my chief contribution. Economics is my Ikigai and when my children ask me what I’ve done to make poverty history, my response is “public education”. And I sleep well at night.
• Of course, I can do more. However I’m very concerned about inefficiencies within the charity sector. Since they exist largely outside the profit and loss framework that I deem to be the cause of the success of markets, it is to be expected that they are subject to bureaucratic inefficiencies. I suspect that the charities I’m most familiar with, are not necessarily the most important. I suspect that the causes that generate most media coverage, are not necessarily the most pressing. So I try to discount charities that have good branding, good PR, and are emotionally draining. That said, GiveWell seem to be doing a good job of evaluating the effectiveness of charities.
• I think it’s important to have direct debits to charities that you believe in. I set a percentage of my income that I feel is appropriate and split that between a few well known charities. One is focused on democracy and basic human rights. One is focused on humanitarian assistance and medical aid. If another charity wants me to contribute to them, they’ll need to convince me either that (i) they are more deserving than a charity I currently support; or (ii) I should increase the percentage of my income I assign to charitable giving. A Tithe requires 10%, but I already donate more than that to the UK government to administer charitable giving on my behalf. So I don’t give 10%. Less than that. If the state shrank, I’d give more.
• I never donate based on cold calling, be it at home or in the street. This is a rule and the more you encourage me to break it, the more resolute I will be. Don’t bully me!
• I regularly make donations of clothes, toys, DVDs etc to my favourite local charity shop.
• Whenever I bet on beliefs I suggest to donate proceeds to charity.
• I am not as skeptical of government-to-government foreign aid as most free market economists, because I believe that even with large scale bureaucratic inefficiencies the end result could still be beneficial. If for every £1 that gets sent abroad 50p is lost to bureaucracy, 25p goes to prop up a bad regime, and only 25p goes to intended recipients; that may be better than 0. But there’s important incentive effects that should be considered.
• As an alternative to foreign aid, I’m delighted that the practice of giving cash transfers is generating more coverage. The economic logic is simple, and it seems that it’s working. Yes, they may spend it on booze. But as Chris Blattman points out this pessimism and paternalism is pretty unfounded (do read that whole article). Other good articles on cash transfers are this one and this one.
• There are also important incentive effects with direct charitable giving. I don’t give money to beggars or homeless people. It’s not because I believe that they’re most likely to be under cover police officers. But if there are rents, I expect rent-seeking. I also expect beggars to invest resources to acquire prime begging locations. And I don’t want to encourage self-mutilation. I assume that any dogs I see are borrowed or rented, and whilst I am tempted to give warm clothes or a cup of tea I find this to be too much hassle. That sounds awful, but I also try to place more weight on the needs of starving people in underdeveloped countries than those where I live, so I don’t feel too guilty from walking on by.
• I try to tip generously, but mostly when abroad. In many countries the service providers you encounter – taxi drivers, waiting staff, housekeepers – will be on low incomes, and so it’s directed at deserving people. This is a nice way to administer cash transfers. But in richer countries tipping is a horrible practice and I favour an automatic 15% service charge that gets split at the discretion of senior management.
• I have an annual budget to use for friends that ask for sponsorship. I don’t keep a close record but this generally means that if it’s someone dear to me I will sponsor. This is a nice way to ensure that I have a wider range of giving than if I chose the charity myself.
• I don’t wear ribbons and resist social media gimmicks. The fact that the Ice Bucket Challenge involved nominations and a deadline involved an amount of peer pressure that I consider to be a form of bullying. I find such expressive gestures self-satisfying and hollow and believe that genuine charity should be understated. Having said that, I’m also aware of evidence to suggest that the more public people are about their charitable activity, the more it encourages other people. Which is why I wrote this post.
• Don’t conflate environmental concerns and other forms of “doing good” with charity. Avoid virtue signalling, which occurs when you value the image your project more than the solving of a problem. As an example, What you think about landfill and recycling is probably totally wrong (e.g. lazy compost is worse than landfill). And understand the benefits of packaging before lamenting the costs.

If you’ve never given a cash transfer before, I recommend https://www.givedirectly.org. Here’s what I used to think of charity.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is community work, and I’ve often wondered if I’ve used shyness as a mask for selfishness. However Brooks’ ‘The Road to Character’ reassured me that we shouldn’t overstate community involvement. He says, “community service is sometimes used as a patch to cover over inarticulateness about the inner life”. He provides an example of asking a headteacher how her school teaches character, and the response was the number of hours of community service. According to Brooks, “when I asked her about something internal, she answered by talking about something external. Her assumption seemed to be that if you go off and tutor poor children, that makes you a good person yourself”. It isn’t a massive leap to consider “how can I use my beautiful self to help out those less fortunate than I”. He says (p.133),

Today, when we use the phrase “public-spirited,” we tend to mean someone who gathers petitions, marches and protests, and makes his voice heard for the public good. But in earlier eras it meant someone who curbed his own passions and moderated his opinions in order to achieve a larger consensus ands bring together diverse people.

If you struggle to find the balance between donating 80% of your income to charity and retraining as a doctor to work in a children’s hospital in Africa, versus doing nothing, I recommend ‘Stubborn Attachments‘ by Tyler Cowen. In particular, may this passage reassure you:

Or, as George Eliot ended Middlemarch:

“the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who live faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs”

When struggling to make a decision a simple first step is to create three columns and list:

• Reasons in favour
• Reasons against
• Further information required

I like the advice from Jack Reacher,

Evaluate. Long experience had taught me to evaluate and assess. When the unexpected gets dumped on you, don’t waste time. Don’t figure out how or why it happened. Don’t recriminate. Don’t figure out whose fault it is. Don’t work out how to avoid the same mistake next time. All of that you can do later. If you survive. First of all you evaluate. Analyse the situation. Identify the downside. Assess the upside. Plan accordingly. Do all that and you give yourself  a better chance of getting through to the other stuff later.

The following is a great template for requesting decision rights within an organisation:

1. Describe the authority that is being requested
2. Provide a background and summary of the value proposition
3. Outline the objective with the strategic fit
4. Prepare an economic summary with the base case, as well as other plausible scenarios that could make the project much better or worse
5. Identify the key value drivers
6. Describe the key risks and mitigants
7. List alternatives considered and why they’ve been ruled out
8. Project the timeline for future steps

See Koch, C., 2015, Good Profit, Crown Business

And all those points should be evidence-based. Not necessarily extensive, but easily digestible. As management guru Joey Barton points out, three key points are “the limit of relevant, easily digestible information”.

In May 1997 I applied for the Everton managers job, and received a nice reply from Peter Johnson. Over the next few years I decided to apply to as many Premier League managers jobs as I could, and eventually built a collection of rejection letters. I rediscovered them in November 2015 and here they are:

• Everton – May 1997
• Sheff Wed – July 1998
• Tottenham – Sep 1998
• Leeds – Oct 1998
• Blackburn – Dec 1998
• Manchester United – Jan 1999
• The FA (England manager) – Feb 1999
• The FA (Chief Executive) – July 1999
• The Football League (Chief Executive) – Oct 1999
• Sheff Wed – Jun 2000
• Chelsea – Sep 2000
• The FA (England manager) – Oct 2000
• Bradford – Nov 2000
• Tottenham – Mar 2001
• Southampton – Apr 2001
• West Ham – Jun 2001

I still live in hope.

Update: here’s my pitch for the Everton job 2016

May we enjoy the “free communication of friendship, the taste of reading and of travelling” (JB Say 1803)

I make a solo trip around once a month and have created a set of routines that serve me well. I find travelling to be an important component of being an academic because it provides time and space to concentrate and reflect. Some of the advice below is a little haphazard, but it’s a work in progress.

(1) Packing

For very short trips I’ll use a hold all but for anything more than 3 nights I’ll take a suitcase. From 2008-2022 I used my Rimowa Topas. This has the benefit of holding everything I need (I’ve used it for 2 week beach holidays) but small enough to fit as carry on if necessary, which is handy if there’s a queue for bag drop but I prefer to check it. I’ve only ever had my suitcase go missing once and don’t keep critical documents in it, but they are hassle to carry around with you (especially if you like to spend time at the airport). I very rarely clear customs before the baggage area at reclaim so I don’t feel that checked baggage slows me down. And for connecting flights it makes things significantly easier.

In 2022 I replaced my Rimowa for two main reasons. Firstly, I wanted a four wheeler because they are much more easy to maneuver when queuing. And secondly, because Rimowa were bought by LVMH and pivoted from being a brand focused on travel and quality to one focused on luxury and grotesqueness. I now use an American Tourister Novastream Spinner.

If you’re going to a conference don’t forget:

• Non iron shirts – not because you don’t need to iron them (you do), but because they take less time to iron than normal ones.
• Running shorts (for working in the hotel room, or running).
• Swimming trunks (hotel will often have a pool).
• A decent bar of soap.
• A bluetooth speaker.
• Tea bags (I used to hate green tea or fruit infusions but now I take a stash of tea bags that don’t require milk).
• Plug adaptor.

I carry a charging station whenever I have a bag with me. The main items are a spare battery (handy for on the plane) and charging cables. I love the design of the Mu classic for when I’m in the UK but prefer to use a European or US charger (instead of taking an adapter) when abroad. I also include a small torch for blackouts.

A good wash bag should be light and adapt to the contents. There’s no point having a bulky item of luggage that is only half full. I pack the following:

• Toothbrush (don’t forget a cover)
• Travel size toothpaste
• Razor (you don’t need shaving foam/cream)
• Indigestion tablets
• Aspirin
• Deodorant
• After shave bullet (note I refer to is as an “after shave bullet” rather than a “perfume atomiser”)
• Chewing gum/mints
• Cuff links
• Contact lenses – switching to daily disposable ones has made a big difference because you don’t need to pack contact lens solution, and can swim in them

Note that all of these items are easy to duplicate. Therefore have them in your wash bag and keep them at home. What is the point in having to remember to pack and unpack your toothbrush before and after every trip? Duplicate!

(2) The airport

Yes, I know Tyler Cowen’s advice that if you’ve never missed a plane it means you’ve spent too much of your life at airports. But I do not understand this because time at an airport is highly productive. As Craig Mod says,

You are hacking the airport by arriving early, knowing that all the work you could have done at home — the emails or writing or photo editing — can be done at the airport.

Airports are outside any conventional time zone and so embrace this detachment. They are one of the few places where it’s socially acceptable to have a pint before 10am. Embrace this idiosyncratic! I plan to arrive at least 2 hours before my flight – even if I’m checked in, have my boarding card, and taking carry on luggage. For most people 30 minutes at home is better than 30 minutes at an airport, but once you pass security anxiety drops. Those extra 30 minutes you could have spent at home are fraught because you need to remember to remember your passport; consider traffic; wonder about queues, etc. Once you’ve cleared security you can relax. I don’t use lounges and am perfectly happy to just buy a coffee, find a seat, put on ear/headphones, and read a good book. For most people a 1 hour arrival is plenty of time, but I only do this if it’s less than a 30 minute drive to the airport; it’s a small airport; I know there won’t be a pleasant cafe beyond security; I’m really tired/hungover.

(3) The airplane

Try to stick to one airline. The benefits of a loyalty programme are worth being loyal for.

I need an aisle seat. Not just so that I can get to the toilet easily (which incentivises me to drink more water, which is good) but it also means that I can go for a walk to stretch my legs (also good). BTW it’s usually fine to use the toilet when the seatbelt sign is on and here are some excellent tips for getting more legroom.

Obviously if you are in an aisle seat you should be sympathetic to letting people get out. I will sometimes try to sleep and have no problem at all with being woken. The problem I have is people who are constantly getting things from their bags in the overhead locker. Those people are inconsiderate and evil. Even before having kids I was sympathetic to parents travelling with infants. Although they should stay in Economy.

What to wear on a flight:

• A hoody is cosy and protects your head against unhygienic seats, but if you won’t wear it at your destination it is too much hassle. In which case wear a baseball cap. Or both.
• A gilet is a clever way to have small items like mints, earphones and a mobile phone close to hand whilst being seated – you can get them for < £20.
• Avoid a cold/sore throat from the poor quality cabin air by wearing a lightweight neck warmer.
• High quality comfortable noise cancelling headphones are a must.

Embrace no wifi and read:

• I like something light for takeoff and landing – The Economist, The Week, The Spectator, or New Statesman. Not a newspaper. I do not want newsprint on hands. The in flight magazine is usually a worthwhile backup.
• Then a book. If you like kindle fine but I don’t get it. Who reads so much that they can’t carry hard copies? I often read “big” books. But I won’t get through more than 2 on a trip, so they are not prohibitively cumbersome. Even on a 2 week holiday pre kids I would get through 3 or 4 books, but someone else would have one I wanted to read. Books are portable. Durable. Enchanting.
• Or, I may be reading some academic articles. I can see the point of an e reader then because a stack of papers is heavy. But I like to take notes in the margins, and I enjoy the process of throwing away articles once I’ve read them. So even if your hand luggage is a burden on the outbound journey, it will be much lighter on the return. I’ve found that too many articles, on an array of subjects, is too mentally taxing for a flight.

Or, just watch a movie. Apparently Baz Luhrmann began planning his screenplay for ‘The Great Gatsby’ whilst necking wine on a train through Europe. It reflected this speed and dizziness. I watched it whilst necking wine on a plane over the Pacific, and with proper headphones and a dark cabin I find the audio and picture quality perfectly engaging.

I’ve also started listening to more Podcasts whilst flying. They can be a good way to get through a drama series.

(4) Hotels

Try to stick to one hotel chain. The benefits of a loyalty programme are worth being loyal for.

The mark of a good hotel room:

• A bath wide enough to shower in.
• Electrical socket on the desk and on the bedside table.
• A desk lamp with a switch on the base of the lamp (as opposed to on the wire, and therefore hidden behind the desk).
• Blackout curtains.

(5) Transport

Uber is a game changer for domestic transportation. Whilst I don’t mind using public transport it can be almost impossible in the US, and I think it’s wrong to be insensitive to being ripped off on the grounds that you’re using expenses. When reliant on local taxis I’d often prefer to stay at the hotel, but Uber have made it cheaper and easier to get around. Critically they have removed the cultural uncertainty regarding appropriate fares and tipping; reduced suspicion about appropriate routes; avoided the need to carry cash; and lowered prices.

I totally agree with Michael Jennings’s account of “Why a traveller loves Uber“.

(6) Hospitality

Once upon a time I was fascinated by the amazing set of instructions that Richard Stallman sends his hosts. I have simple preferences (e.g. a working shower, mineral water) but put great weight on them being satisfied. One of my preferences is alone time. As Stallman says,

Many people assume that because I am traveling, I am having a vacation–that I have no other work to do, so I can spend the whole day speaking or meeting with people. Some hosts even feel that they ought to try to fill up my time as a matter of good hospitality. Alas, it’s not that way for me.

There are a few cities that I travel to frequently and will often try to spend time with friends. But there is an odd tendency from some cultures to feel obliged to “entertain” you, or to treat your whole schedule as theirs. If I’ve been in a classroom all day I may need the evenings to respond to emails and do other work. Learning that a mysterious person will be at my hotel room at 9pm to take me for dinner is my idea of hell.

When abroad I like to tip, and usually leave a tip when I check out of a hotel room. If I’m not sure what an appropriate tip is I use the price of a pint of beer in local currency as a good benchmark (and multiply accordingly).

If you want a mantra, here’s mine. Top line is when I’m leaving the house, bottom for when I’m leaving the country. Tickets usually means “have I added my boarding card to Passbook?” Money includes foreign currency. Passport includes ESTA/visa. Easy!

I am a creature of habit and get great benefits from the epistemic shortcuts of returning to the same place year after year after year after year after year after year. And recently I realised that I struggle to recollect anywhere that I’ve only been to once. It was only on my second trips to Perth, Bucharest, Turin, Sofia and Minsk that I felt I could piece any of those great cities together in my head. There is something about a return visit to confront your first impressions, and permit yourself a passage of time and circumstance, that makes it a necessary part of travel. It means you can’t get too far ahead of yourself, dipping in and out and passing through. For me, at least, I need to relate a city to my own past experiences. Going back to favourite places can also serve as a restorative niche, where you return to your true self.

Finally, when travelling, go that little bit further. I’ve realised that many of my most meaningful travel experiences are when I’ve ventured slightly farther than my original plans. In 2014 I visited Atlanta and on a whim decided to rent a car and drive to Montgomery. It was exciting and felt like genuine adventure. When I visited Minsk in 2018 I took the time to jump on a train north. It gave me an additional reference point, heightening my understanding of the country, and providing an opportunity for independence. As much as I love the routine of travel described further up the page, all the more reason to seek out the circumstances for surprise. It’s precisely because I stay at Holiday Inns so often that a local hotel, in the right circumstances, becomes exciting.

We think that games have an important place in cultivating good strategists, and that now more than ever games can give executives an edge over their competition.
Reeves and Wittenburg, Harvard Business Review

In addition to my online (and offline) course on Game Theory, I also offer students the opportunity to enjoy some “Game Practice”. Get in touch if you would like me to organise sessions of any of the following:

• Carcassonne
• Settlers of Catan
• Dominion
• Hive
• Biblios
• Risk

I also recommend Eleusis, which is a great game to understand inductive reasoning. And Tic-Tac-Toe is just fun!

On Saturday 7th February, 2015, we noticed that Puddy hadn’t appeared for his breakfast. It was common for him to be out overnight, but come 7am he’d almost always be waiting in the lounge. And he never missed his breakfast. We soon began to fear the worst, and considered him missing. As the days passed our concerns grew and we made concerted efforts to find him. This was the first time we’d had a missing pet, and we learnt a lot about what to do. This is my attempt to summarise what we should have done.

Prevention

– Get a collar with a contact tag. Our cats are constantly losing their collars, and so we gave up trying to keep them with a contact tag. But I do wonder if someone who suspects he might be lost would be more likely to phone the owner, than take him to a vet to be scanned for a chip.

– Get him microchipped. This makes it highly likely that if someone finds him, and knows that he’s missing, you’ll find out. We use PetLog.

– It is really tempting to use GPS as this would solve the mystery element of working out where he is. Ethically, I’m not sure it’s a good idea. But I’d be very tempted to hook up some surveillance just to get an idea of how far your cats roam and where they like to go.

Rescue plan

Once you’re confident that something is amiss, it is worth considering if there’s been any changes that might explain the absence. On Friday 6th February we’d been out to a few pubs in the local village and walked past the house. We did wonder whether Puddy had found our scent, and tried to follow us. But otherwise we couldn’t think of any reason that would cause him to leave, or to not want to return. We tried to consider the various scenarios, and what our response should be:

• Trapped in a garage, shed, wheelie bin or car – likely to be local, possibly within a few doors either side of our house
• Lost and unable to find home – could be quite far from home, and people may have noticed him
• Injured – likely to be by the side of a main road, taken to a vets, or possibly discarded into a wheelie bin
• Stolen – if thieves are intending to sell him on then at least they have an incentive to feed him, and a potential new owner is likely to take him to a vet

Rather than consider which of the above was most likely, we wanted to cover them all. But some of the possible situations were less urgent than others. This would be my advice:

1. Notify the microchipping company. They can send out an alert to their database and will notify you if anyone finds him. Make sure your contact numbers are all up to date. This covers the possibility that he’s taken to a vet, or dumped in a wheelie bin. It could be bad news, but that would end the uncertainty.
2. Hit neighbours early. Don’t let them say “we’ve not had the shed open so he can’t be in there” – ask them to look anywhere they can think of. Remind them that if he’s scared he won’t bolt out, and could be trying to hide.
3. Create posters. These should contain several recent photos (including a side on shot which is how people are likely to observe him), and a contact number. It is a good idea to use a number that people could call anonymously. The Cats Protection League may help. Don’t offer a reward. Put posters up around the local area and be especially conscious of places with high foot traffic such as newsagents, supermarkets, pubs, community noticeboards, school gates.
4. Call for him. He may be close to home but discoordinated. Make sure you call every morning and evening, and leave items with his scent on in the garden (such as cushions, clothing or the contents of the vacuum cleaner).
5. Look for him. Go out for a walk and shout for him. Take a leaflet and show it to people that may have seen something – especially dog walkers and people on building sites. Take a torch to be able to see in alleyways and woodland. Make sure you wear high visibility clothing and be considerate to people who may think you’re acting suspiciously.
6. Use social media and local newspapers. Friends may offer to help, and if so get them to. Ask them to take a leaflet and show it to their social groups (e.g. schools, church, community classes). Ask them to share your social media appeals.

If you are reading this having lost your own pet, feel free to use our poster as a template: MISSING Puddy.pdf

Anecdotally it appears that these situations often end with the cat returning of their own accord, possibly several weeks later, and you never find out what had happened. Making overly concerted efforts to find a cat can alienate people close to you and drive you up the wall with anguish. We received several possible sightings and spent a lot of time surveying those areas. I’m not sure how likely it is that you will ever “find” a cat that gets lost. They are robust creatures that can survive by themselves for a long time. I also believe that strangers will treat animals with kindness. However I do think the six points above can increase the chances of being reunited, and it is important to feel that you are doing something. But try not to conflate activity with accomplishment. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do.

Update (Saturday Feb 14): It’s now been a week. The lowest point was on Sunday night, walking around the village. It was very cold, dark, and I had visions of him trapped somewhere, very hungry, and scared. Now, I feel that if he’s alive then he’s worked out how to stay alive. And hopefully someone will see our posters, social media will come to the fore, and we’ll see him again soon.

Update (Sunday Feb 15): We made a map of potential sightings, and tried to focus our efforts on those areas (our house is at the bottom of the map in the middle). However these seemed contradictory. Someone thought they’d seen him in Combe St within a few hours of a sighting in St Nicholas Mt. I raced over to Combe St, which is near the Watergardens, and spent an hour or so walking around, calling. I noticed some geese and ducks by the river bank and wondered if he might have been tempted to try to catch one. I used my torch to look under the bridges but couldn’t see him. It was right next to a curry house called “Bengal Spice”. Later that evening Faith went for another look and found a duck with an open wound. Given that I hadn’t noticed it the injury seemed fresh. She shouted for Puddy, and we speculated that he was in the area. However she followed a trail of blood back to the main road, and surmised that it’d been hit by a car. When she got home I wondered if it was my car.

We did notice that two sightings had occurred near Shrub Hill Common. However not since the previous Tuesday. Then, on Saturday evening, I received a message from someone at Valleyside. We both felt that he was there. The previous evenings of aimless wandering now felt as though they were useful. I had a much better understanding of our local areas, and when people mentioned roads I knew where they were, and why it was plausible that Puddy might find himself there. Then, on Sunday morning we got a voicemail from someone at Ridge Lea. He’d seen Puddy at 9am. Now it seemed like too many independent sightings to be a coincidence. And given that he’s a such a distinctive cat, and that they’d all reported a red collar, we went to the Common. I took the kids on the swings whilst Faith searched the woodland. We then drove around the estates backing onto it, and went door to door along Ridge Lea. We met the gentleman who’d phoned us earlier, and thanked him. Faith put up a “Missing Puddy” poster on a lamppost.

We returned home, and I switched off the engine. I immediately heard that my phone was ringing. It was the same man. He had *just* seen Puddy. We raced off and drove up Northridge Way. I turned left towards Ridge Lea and we were trying to see if the poster was still up: “There he is!” said Faith. Not the poster! Actually him!

He looked skinny and scared, and was walking along the main road. Faith jumped out, picked him up, and we had him in the car. He was meowing louder than we’d ever heard him, and was clearly disoriented. But we brought him home. He’d lost 10% of his body weight but seemed unscathed. It was a mighty big adventure. We are so grateful to the people who phoned us with sightings. Leaflets and social media built up a map, and we managed to locate him. Who needs GPS!

We have been to my parents’ house in Picardy several times and in 2014 made our first foray to see some of the WW1 Battlefields. This page is to share some of our advice on what to do.

Getting there

I enjoy getting the ferry because it feels more like a holiday, and there are plenty of cheap and regular crossings from Dover to Calais. I like using P&O because they’ve been good at getting us across if we’ve been late, and have good customer service.

However the Eurotunnel is a far better option. It’s usually around £80 per trip (although there’s a £15 per trip pet surcharge) and the road links are superb. There’s several trains each hour and it’s essentially first come first served. When you check in you are assigned a letter, which supersedes your allotted departure time. So if you proceed to the boarding slip lanes as soon as your letter is called, there’s a good chance you’ll squeeze onto an earlier train. If you spend too much time in the terminal and wait until the second call, you may well get pushed back onto a later one. The crossing takes just 35 minutes and you can get out of the car as soon as you’re on board. It really is an engineering marvel and wonderfully convenient.

Base

We stay in Mons Boubert which is a friendly village near Arrest. However we’ve also stayed at the Domaine de Drancourt campsite and highly recommend it. We like to book through Eurocamp which have plenty of affordable options. It is toddler friendly and conveniently located. Some of our favourite day trips include:

• Saint Valery sur Somme – we visit the town centre regularly. It is the port that William the Conqueror departed from in 1066, and was a resting place for Joan of Arc on her way to Rouen in 1430 (I think). There is a monument for the former outside the Office de Tourisme and a plaque for the latter in the medieval part. The Sunday market is worth visiting (but best to park outside of town and walk in) and the quayside is flat and leads to a nice cafe (and playground) on the beach. We’ve enjoyed Creperie Sel et Sucre and Spa Samaris.
• The Somme Bay steam train – St Valery to Noyelles is 15 minutes, and St Valery to Le Crotoy is 30 minutes. There’s a nice Salon de The/Art gallery right next to the station at Noyelles called Relais de las Baie but make sure you check times for the return journey (often it’s either a choice of coming straight back or having to kill a few hours).
• Abbeville – the town centre is convenient to park in, find a brasserie, and visit the cathedral. There’s also a soft play called Accro Kids which has coffee and wifi. On a rainy day it is a necessity if you have young children. The opening hours are irregular, so check ahead.
• Amiens – under an hour from St Valery and an easy day trip. We parked by the Hotel de Ville, visited the cathedral, and ate on the banks of the river. The old town is worth exploring.
• Quend plage – Fort Mahon plage is bigger but Quend plage is a little closer (it’s a 40 minute drive), more down to earth (they don’t sneer if you want a coffee before lunch) and has everything you need. There is plenty of parking within a short walk of the beach and several brasseries on the front. The beach is sandy and goes for miles. It can be windy and the weather is unlikely to be much better than the UK, but if you bring games, shelter, and a picnic it’s a great day out.
• Crecy – the battle of Crecy took place in 1346, and was an important part of the 100 years war. It is just over 30 minutes away. There is a small turret that can be climbed to give an overview of the site and visualise the importance of the new technology being employed by the English longbowmen.

The battlefields

The itinerary below is based on what we’ve done, and what we’d do if we did it again. It is based on an overnight stay but could be squeezed into a daytrip. I’m not including any photos and don’t advise you to do any more research than what you’re reading now. If, like me, you don’t have much familiarity with these sites it’s best to see them for the first time in person. Once there, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to absorb information. You can find the exact locations easily but we just put the town centre into the sat nav and then looked for the road signs to each place. This seemed like a good way to do it – everything is very well signposted, but it adds an element of immersion and serendipity. Once you are in Albert (and especially Beaumont-Hamel) you could just randomly drive around, and stumble upon cemeteries at random. It’s a bit like a morbid, poignant wine trip.

Day 1

1. Drive to the Thiepval memorial (1hr 30 mins) – this is a great place to start because the visitor centre has a thorough account of WW1 and a separate history of the Somme battlefields. My prior knowledge was limited to what I remembered from school and Blackadder. The visitor centre doesn’t go in much detail, but it fills in a few holes and lays down a nice primer. They also tend to have excellent photographs. The memorial itself is stunning.
2. Drive to the German cemetery at Fricourt (20 mins) – head north out of Thiepval towards Pozieres. Over 17,000 German soldiers are buried here, making it one of the largest German sites in the area. It provides a haunting contrast to the Allied cemeteries which are individual white stone graves. The German ones are often buried 4 per marker. (The markers are usually black crosses, but not all of them are crosses).
3. Drive into Albert and park by the basilica (10mins) – this is a good stop for lunch, and to stretch legs. Then, underneath the basilica, find the Somme 1916 WW1 museum. It is housed underground, in a WW2 air raid shelter, but contains an evocative collection of WW1 memorabilia. There are numerous wax models displaying scenes from trench life. These are uncomfortable and you leave via a dark tunnel with scary sound effects.
4. Drive to the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial (10 mins) – this takes you into actual trenches at the front line. The visitor centre explains the history of Newfoundland (which at the time was a British Dominion) and there are free tours.
5. Drive to Arras city center (35 mins) – we used the Holiday Inn Express and recommend it. There’s convenient parking and it’s right in the city centre. We walked to the Grand Place via the Place de Heros, and there’s plenty of restaurants in amongst the Flemmish style arches. We ate at Assiette ou Bouef and enjoyed it.

Day 2

1. Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez (15mins) – one of the biggest British cemeteries and immaculately kept. It also has the advantage of having a Polish and Czechoslovakian cemetery nearby, and a stunning but fleeting view of the Vimy memorial on the road in.
2. Drive to the Canadian National Memorial at Vimy (11 mins) – a real highlight of the trip. Head to the memorial first and walk around. You need to get back into the car to go on to the visitor centre. You can get a pass to allow you to explore the preserved trenches, and look at the bomb craters. There are also guided tours each hour, on the hour, and these provide access to an underground tunnel system.
3. Drive back to base (1 hr 40mins) – there are several routes to take, we went via Hesdin. You could make it back for lunch, but we stopped on the way at Chez Nathalie in Labroye. There wasn’t really a menu, just a few specials. They were all authentic and hearty.

I am a UEFA qualified soccer coach and a non league scout.

If you would like a copy of my coaching notes, email me.

If you would like a copy of my scouting framework, email me.

• A good resource for compiling scout reports for individual players are the 16 key questions mentioned in Michael Calvin’s The Nowhere Men (pp. 121-124).

If you would like a copy of my notes on the evolution of tactics and formations, email me.

• Based mainly on Jonathan Wilson’s Inverting the Pyramid and Michael Cox’s The Mixer.

Positions

• 2013-present, Freelance Scout
• 2005, Head Coach: The Royal Pigeons, Vienna Youth, u10s
• 2003-2004, Team Manager: Ashville Colts, u10s
• 2001-2004, Head Coach: Hills Soccer, Wirral

Qualifications

• UEFA B Coaching Certificate
• First4Sport Level ‘2’ Certificate in Coaching Football
• FA First Aid Certificate