Now

This is a /now page. In a nutshell, “a /now page shares what you’d tell a friend you hadn’t seen in a year.” For more about who I am, see my About page. For week-by-week information, you can check out my weeknotes.

Last updated: 14 June 2026, in a hotel room in Johannesburg, South Africa

Family

Our eldest son is back at home in the UK after finishing his freshman year at college in Texas, USA. He’s been out there on a running scholarship and has had a good first season where he broke the mile record time for his college. It’s good to have him back; the house is much livelier with him in it. We’ve got him with us until early August, when he heads back to start his sophomore year. Our youngest son is coming to the end of his first year of A-Levels, with mock exams looming. He’s in the process of deciding what he wants to study at university and where he might like to go, but is planning to take a year out.

Both of the boys are into road cycling and it’s been great to get out with them for some riding. They’ve also been going out together and with a few of their friends for local rides. We’re planning on a short cycling trip in July, maybe to the Isle of Wight.

My wife just got back from a short break to Portugal with some friends and had a great time.

We’re still living in Berkhamsted, UK, and have been in our house for over 21 years now.

Work

Currently I’m the Head of Technology Enablement for one of Africa’s largest financial services groups, a position I’ve held since April 2020. It’s effectively a Deputy CIO role. Our team are responsible for all technology and real estate/facilities for our investment banking offices outside the continent — London, Beijing, New York and Dubai — as well as a new office we are currently setting up in Cairo. It’s extremely varied, which comes from the relatively small sizes of our offices and our team. In the same day I can go from reporting to the board on artificial intelligence to dealing with the impact of a faulty tap, and everything in between.

Work-adjacent

I’m an active member of the Signal group that Matt Ballantine and Chris Weston set up to accompany their WB-40 podcast. At first I enjoyed the tech-related conversations there, but as the years have gone on we’ve been through so many things together — personal life events and the collective experience of the pandemic — and now I’ve made some very real, trusted friends.

I’ve recently signed up to the Society of Hopeful Technologists and have been involved in the Signal group as well as playing a very minor role in facilitating the online meetups. The group is the brainchild of Rachel Coldicutt and I first heard about it when she spoke at last year’s Interesting Conference. I’m hopeful that being part of the group will make me hopeful, plotting a path forward to make me optimistic about where technology is taking us.

Fitness

I try and do something every day that I am at home and don’t have an early morning meeting. Usually that means getting on the indoor bike trainer for an hour. On Saturday mornings I go out with Berkhamsted Cycling Club, riding with the 16-17mph speed group, unless there’s a risk of ice or it’s chucking it down with rain. I’m trying to keep my running going by doing a run on a Sunday, so that I don’t suffer with DOMS whenever I’m away from home and running is all that’s on offer. That’s also weather dependent. Strava tells me I have a 347 week activity streak.

I recently completed the London Wales London Audax ride for the second year in a row, which turned out to be a very different experience to the first time. At the end of May I also rode 250km for the Tour de Ricky in very hot temperatures. I think I might have been overdoing it, so I haven’t signed up for any more long rides at the moment.

Media

I spend most of my listening hours with podcasts, and am struggling with wanting to spend more time with music — which is a passion — versus keeping up with politics and technology. I’m in two album clubs, the original in-person one that we started in 2011 and another with friends from the WB-40 Signal group that has been going for a couple of years. I love these monthly meetups as they force me to put everything else aside and listen to music.

I’m currently reading Kae Tempest’s Having Spent Life Seeking, a novel that has autobiographical traits to it. It’s fine, but not gripping.

We’ve been watching the second series of The Assembly and have loved it. It’s such an excellent series.