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Are you Hamlet or Guildenstern?

I enjoy talking with old pros. In this case defined as people who've worked in the industry for a long time.

Some of them have great stories; eye opening, jaw dropping anecdotes from their careers spent in and around the room where it happened.

My response is obvious: Come on the podcast and tell them.

Or, write them down. Publish them in a book, or a Substack.

Most don't want to do this.

They're worried about damaging their own or other people's reputations. Or they want a job and worry that they'll be seen as telling tales out of school.

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the god thing

Interesting topic which goes under reported:

How did athletes manifesting their religious “faith” come together and align with the sports’ high-performance purpose and demand?

 the Stanford study, a survey of more than 8,000 Liverpool fans, suggested the reason for the reduction in prejudice towards Muslims in Merseyside was because Salah was familiarizing his fans with Islam, through his observation of the faith, while his image as a bubbly father, friend, and fantastic footballer breaking down stereotypes of “threatening Muslims”.
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The hard bit is to come

The hard bit is to come

We did a podcast on PR. Called it Spin Class, which the participants didn't much like. They don't like the word spin, they prefer reputation, which sounds more grown up, and certainly more expensive.

Hear it here:

The Kirsty Coventry press conference, as we can now call it, was a big bit of the conversation. Jon Tibbs was in the room when it happened and reported back. Context is useful on these occasions. The summary would be that this was a blip at the end of what has been deemed a successful Winter Olympics.

See my previous note, written at

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Denyer spitballs on betting


This podcast has been one of our best performing. Not a surprise, Simon Denyer is one of the smartest guys in the room. 

Part of the conversation was about betting. 

A question I've asked a few times on the podcast is about where betting sits in the private equity playbook. 

I was struck by how bullish George Pyne was on TGL, and how explictly he referenced it as a potential betting product.

The p/e money likes betting for semi-obvious reasons to do with risk diversification and revenue predictability. 

As Denyer notes, when evaluating sports investments,

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Why has the DCMS commissioned a Parkrun consultation?

I’ve just finished Dan Wang’s Breakneck. Strong recommend (no affiliation). 

Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future

Why can’t we build things anymore?

Wang’s book tackles this lament, which runs through the political conversation from pot holes to HS2. 

The lawyer vs engineer framing (Warning, contains nuance). 

Blaming lawyers for blocking progress is a trick beloved of populists the world over. They do it because it works. Lawyers are unpopular, until you need one on your side.

So, let’s be careful with the lawyer-engineer binary; I admire China’s bridges but don’t want to live there

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