The Sea is Calm

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The soft, pink clouds hang over the distant horizon.
The glazed water gently rolls towards the beach.
A breeze-less, tranquil, tropical morning.
A man in a punt moves over the unruffled surface.
You can see that he has used a punt before
By the way he raises the long, wooden pole
And drops it noiselessly into the water, close to the craft.
His companion looks away towards the open sea.
Maybe it’s the coastal freighter that has caught her eye,
Moving hull-down in the far distance.
Maybe she is dreaming of a long, slow voyage
To hot, humid and exotic ports in other seas,
Just puttering from place to place, no rush, no reason;
Just the dream of an idle moment.

White ibis peck for muluscs in the fine, white sand.
A brown pelikan dives, bill-first, into the still water,
Submerging momentarily as it snaps up prey.
Spilling water from its throat-pouch, it swallows the catch
And takes off again, leaving the sea as if nothing had happened.
It is tranquil here, that is, until the speedboats appear.

(Robert Hanrott, 2015)

To espouse Epicureanism is to espouse peace of mind. Easier said than done sometimes!

Sharks in unlikely places

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Sharks are living in the River Thames,in England, according to findings from the waterway’s first “health check” since it was condemned as “biologically dead” 64 years ago. The Greater Thames Shark Project, run by the Zoological Society of London, found that shark species including tope, starry smooth hound and spurdog live in the Thames. There are more than 100 species of fish in the 215-mile long river.

My comment: Those inclined towards the way of life and thought of Epicurus will be delighted to see the river return to its age-old character. Thank you, conservationists! But here’s a tip: don’t fall off the punt, fully dressed (on a tributary of the Thames) like I did last summer! The laughter from the onlookers must have frightened the sharks away.

Interesting ( but nothing to do with Epicurus!)

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Ancestral Eve

“Because only mitochondria from eggs are passed on to children – mitochondria from sperm are lost at fertilisation – we can trace people’s maternal ancestors using mitochondrial DNA. This has allowed us to work out that everyone alive had a common female ancestor living at some point between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago. This doesn’t mean she was the only woman alive at the time, just that all the other women’s descendants later died out.” (

“Some women have mutations in their mitochondria DNA that mean their babies could be born with a deadly condition or a disability. A new IVF technique called mitochondrial replacement therapy means that doctors can switch the mitochondria from a person’s eggs with those from an unaffected individual. Together with the complement of DNA from the father, this means the resulting children technically have three genetic parents. (New Scientist 27 Nov 2021)

My comment: In awe of these scientists and doctors. I can’t understand why so many people don’t trust them. They are a great blessing!

The anatomy of a ( British) CEO

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Result of a survey of CEO backgrounds:

Background: 55% of FTSE 100 chiefs have a background in finance or accounting. 15% come from marketing; 14% technology. The best industries for working through the ranks are retail and hospitality, where around 21% of bosses started out in lowly roles.

Education: The majority of CEOs have at least one university degree; more than a quarter have an MBA or PhD. The number of Oxbridge graduates has fallen from 21% in 2012 to 18%.

Age and gender: The average age is 55. The oldest FTSE 100 CEO today is 71; the youngest is 40. Just six out of 100 of Britain’s top bosses are women.

Tenure: Promoting from within is out of style: some 70% of CEOs moved to their role from another organisation. Once at the top, “make yourself comfortable” – the average tenure is five years and three months.

Nationality: More than 20 nationalities are represented. (Statistics by recruiter Robert Half written up by Emma Haslett in City AM.)

My comment: What stands out is the proportion of accountants and financiers who run big companies. I have nothing against accountants. They are without exception personable, clever, amusing people with good mathematics, one hopes. What is there to dislike about them? Some of my best friends are, or were, accountants until they took up cooking or flower arranging.

The problem comes if they have no expertise or experience (or particular interest in) people, e.g customers and employees. You can tell this from the tendency in times of company stress to look at the figures and immediately trim staff. Instead, what is needed are clever ideas to boost sales and profits, charismatic leadership, bucking the trend, getting the sales force re-motivated. There are too many bureaucratised, systematised, boring to work for and out of touch people in corporations. And the bosses who are products of business schools are often weak on sales, and not too good, in my opinion, on man management (I have personal experience of this). But he with the key to the safe and the balance sheet will have his way. Meanwhile, running a company is actually mostly about actual people.

Good news

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It has been another record year for renewable energy, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and rising costs for raw materials around the world, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

About 290GW of new renewable energy generation capacity, mostly in the form of wind turbines and solar panels, has been installed around the world this year, beating the previous record last year. On current trends, renewable energy generating capacity will exceed that of fossil fuels and nuclear energy combined by 2026. (The Guardian, 1 Dec 31)

My comment: Great news! And this despite the lobbying of vested interests. Whether this trajectory will bring us safety from climate chaos I don’t know. There is a limit to the market penetration of renewables, as I found out when negotiating to have panels put on our roof – nearby trees made it unviable and a significant expense for dubious benefits.