Pepys Day 2026: There He Goes Again!

Pepys Day 2026 takes place on Friday, 4 September 2026. The event features guided walking tours and historical ceremonies commemorating the diarist’s accounts of the Great Fire of London – https://bit.ly/4opBzvS.

In September 1666 the Great Fire of London swept through the City. Man-about-town Samuel Pepys witnessed and recorded the events of that extraordinary week. The fire started at 01.00 on 2 September and by mid-morning Pepys was writing about it in his diary. The fire was put out on 6 September.

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Ordinary Wisdom For Extraordinary Machines

Professor Michael Mainelli, World Technology Congress, Thursday, 23 April 2026, Lake Como, Italy

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

  1. The Ethics Manual We Never Wrote

I want to begin with a confession. I came to Lake Como this week telling myself it was a professional duty. But with this weather and this location, I have since revised that position. The view is magnificent, but the problem we’re here to discuss is also extraordinary: we have built the most powerful cognitive tools in human history, and we shipped them without an ethics manual.

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Admiral Of The Port? The Fleet?

As many know, I had a vicarious frisson from the ex officio post of Admiral of the Port of London which I held in 2023 and 2024 as Lord Mayor. The post is ancient and today honorific. In trying to find which ensign to fly, I found out that the Lord Mayor is required to design his own and the continue to use it during the rest of his life. This had not been done for well over a hundred years, so with a bit of cheek I restarted with the result below.

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Magna Charta Universitatum

This week King’s College London hosted the Anniversary of the Magna Charta Universitatum (MCU), a celebration and exploration of the fundamental values of being a university. Over 200 universities have gathered to discuss ‘What are universities for? Higher education principles, values and responsibilities in a fragmented world’. Over three days, participants engaged in keynote addresses, panel discussions, and interactive sessions exploring the evolving role of universities amidst global challenges. KCL President Shitij Kapur and Professor Liviu Matei explain, “Affirming shared values will help academic freedom weather the storm”.

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