Pepys Day has turned out to be quite the fun occasion. For a third time (see Pepys Day! Part Deux & Pepys Day! Part Deux) we have had a wonderful celebration of the City of London and its most famous chronicler.
Continue reading “Pepys Encounters Of A Third Kind”
So there you are reading a book when you want to go back to find a reference to Paul Samuelson’s remarks on epsilon and Gertrude Stein, but you can’t seem to find it. Naturally, you consult the index on Stein and Epsilon – far too many references to Samuelson. Then you come up with an idea, ask an AI where the reference is in the book. But this leads to a scary conversation with Google Gemini …
Continue reading “Gaslit By An AI?”
JOINT LUNCHEON Remarks to:
Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers
&
Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards
Professor Michael Mainelli
Thursday, 30 July 2026
Dyers’ Hall
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.
Continue reading “Pepys Day 2026: There He Goes Again!”
One of our intended-to-be-swift-but-resulted-in-longer-term projects as Lord Mayor was to get the Guildhall scanned in 3D as part of Europeana’s Twin-it.
Continue reading “Europeana Twin.it!”
“Tax heavens” (May 30th) looked at how to tax businesses that operate in space and the growth of offplanet finance. The more immediate market failure is not untaxed Martian income, but unpriced, man-made orbital debris; there are 140m pieces up there already.
Continue reading “Space-Junk Bonds”
Remarks to: World Technology Congress, Thursday, 23 April 2026, Lake Como, Italy
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
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.
Continue reading “Ordinary Wisdom For Extraordinary Machines”
Spending poisson d’avril by the French Alps and now able to marry it with German Backfisch, I was also able to hone my Holmes’ skills and solve one of life’s circular mysteries before noon.
Continue reading “Grill That Backfisch”
Remarks To: The United Wards Club
Professor Michael Mainelli, Guildhall, 16 March 2026
President, Past President, Past Past Presidents, Chairmen, Masters, Ward Club members, distinguished guests all:
Continue reading “What’s In A Ward?”