Edie Lush

Journal

Clean and cool mission

I’m travelling with the Clean and Cool Mission – 19 of the hottest UK cleantech (i.e. green) companies who have the potential to revolutionise the way we live our lives.

Some of them are easy for the layman (me) to understand. Some of them require a bit more thought. The other night trip co-leader Oli Barrett and Richard Miller of the Technology Strategy Board and I tried to fit all of these companies together. We ended up in Scotland. We also decided we needed an artist to illustrate our picture – but I’ll do the best I can to show you what we came up with

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Posted on Feb 26, 2010, in the journal section and commented on by 0 people

The strange case of sponsorship of the World Economic Forum by South Africa

In Davos, the sublime mixes with the ridiculous on a regular basis but perhaps nowhere more than the South African Bar in the Belvedere Hotel. While by day, Davos attendees are wowed by mind expanding commentary from the world’s thought leaders, at night it’s nothing short of a festival of networking and champagne quaffing at the Belvedere. This year’s hot ticket is the free bar provided all week by the good people of South Africa. South African beauties sporting the latest in Jo’burg fashions provide Xosa face painting and as many free delicious sugar cane cocktails as the thought leaders (and hangers on like me) could possibly take. Davos delegates drift in and out of the packed bar in between parties given by the likes of McKinsey, Standard Chartered Bank, Google and PWC. And, I admit, I was one of them.

I dutifully accepted my face paint (that’s me on the right with my producer Meg) while drinking a delicious cocktail (alcohol free I might add, though that’s no defence) and eating delicious Macadamia nuts (who knew South Africa exported these? I thought they came from Hawaii!). But when a similarly-face painted South African business leader reminds over his drink that a quarter of the country’s population is unemployed, I stop stuffing my face with nuts and put down the fruit cocktail. Last year alone around 1 million employed South Africans lost their jobs. With only around 15 million truly employable people, this is an incredible blow. Why is the government paying for my free drink whenthere are thousands closer to home that could use one much more than I could?

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Posted on Feb 3, 2010, in the journal section and commented on by 0 people

The harsh return to training in 2010

With the Barcelona Marathon looming less than two months away and my training schedule thrown into chaos by children off school, snow and icy weather and motivation running at near all time lows, I decide to stop procrastinating and get back to work.

So I head for Richmond Park – supposedly 3 miles there, 7 miles around and 3 miles back. Shorter than my schedule says I should be doing but hey, you gotta start somewhere. So I try the sneaky back route to get there but – never having done it before – get lost. Manage to find it after an extra 2 miles.

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Posted on Jan 11, 2010, in the journal section and commented on by 0 people

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