Hello again, it’s me. Just one more thing about my Primrose League badge from an earlier post.
At the Carlton Club in London, there is a remarkable collection of old Primrose League badges. I can stand there for minutes, just looking at them, studying the details and imagining the people who once wore them.
And when I have my lady with me, she eventually smiles and asks, “Darling, what is it about these little badges that keeps you so fascinated?”
A perfectly reasonable question, I must admit.
I suspect she would rather head down Piccadilly for some shopping at Fortnum & Mason. Founded in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason, during the reign of Queen Anne. Another piece of British history, by the way.
But there I am, still studying the badges, minute after minute, thinking about Queen Victoria, Benjamin Disraeli and Victorian London.
And my lady? Perhaps one day I’ll tell her how the Primrose League helped open doors for women in British political life, long before they gained the parliamentary vote.
Then again, she might simply smile and suggest that we continue our historical investigations at Fortnum & Mason. 😉
I went to one of my social clubs for lunch and met a rather special gentleman, a man of great intellect, curiosity and a remarkable eye for detail.
He noticed the little badge on my jacket, and that was enough to start a conversation.
It was my Primrose League badge, a small piece of British political and social history.
The story takes us back to Queen Victoria and her close relationship with Benjamin Disraeli, one of her favourite Prime Ministers. The Queen admired him greatly, and they developed an unusual friendship built on mutual respect and affection.
When Disraeli died in 1881, Queen Victoria sent a wreath of primroses to his funeral, a flower closely associated with him. Two years later, in 1883, the Primrose League was founded in his memory, bringing together politics, social life and British traditions.
My badge carries a design registration associated with 1886, making it a small reminder of Victorian Britain, although the exact age of the badge itself remains uncertain.
And there we were, more than a century later, discussing Queen Victoria, Disraeli, political history and a little flower over lunch.
That is precisely why I enjoy wearing these small pieces of history.
Sometimes, all it takes to start a good conversation is a badge on your jacket.
My professional life involves board positions in publicly listed companies, corporate leadership, strategic advisory work and close relationships with business owners and investment groups.
Alongside this, I have held positions of trust in public and civic organisations, international representative assignments, and been involved in established associations and institutions.
It is a world of responsibility, relationships and decisions. But there is another side of me that I have rarely shared.
The creative side.
My father was a well-represented artist, an eccentric personality with a remarkable imagination and a distinctive visual language. His paintings explored colour, geometry, movement and abstraction.
He left behind an extensive collection of original artwork. Now, I am exploring how to give his artistic legacy a new life.
I am developing an illustrated art book about a little boy who dreams of becoming an explorer.
One day, he steps beyond his familiar surroundings and enters an extraordinary world where colourful shapes become companions, lines turn into roads, and abstract compositions transform into mysterious landscapes.
A world created from the colours, forms and imagination of my father's original paintings.
Using contemporary creative tools, I am bringing these artistic elements into a new visual narrative, combining his art with my own storytelling.
The project is still evolving, but the ambition is to create a book that is both an imaginative adventure and a celebration of his artistic legacy.
My professional world is about leadership, governance and business decisions.
This journey is about imagination, curiosity and creating something entirely different.
A little boy wants to become an explorer.
And through my father's art, I am giving him a world to discover.
Europe is endless. So is Tony Judt’s great book about postwar Europe.
It tells the story of how much of Europe rebuilt itself after a devastating war, gradually restoring democracy, economic growth, independence, equality and the foundations of the welfare state.
At the same time, another Europe remained behind the Iron Curtain, where millions lived under authoritarian rule. The story of postwar Europe is therefore also the story of a divided continent, and of the long struggle for those in the East to regain freedom and reconnect with the rest of Europe.
A remarkable book about how the Europe we know today was rebuilt, defended and eventually reunited.
One of the greatest civilizations mankind has ever seen.
I went for a power walk with a stop at the local store and somehow came out with several kilos of potatoes, bananas, a pineapple, yoghurt and 24 eggs.
The rucksack was completely full, with the eggs sticking out of the top. So the walk home became a different kind of training session. Balance the rucksack, keep the eggs from falling out, and coordinate every step so the potatoes and bananas did not crush them.
