Author

This is not your typical bio – it’s not going to try to impress by listing a string of achievements. You can read that on LinkedIn. Rather, this is how and why I came to write Goodbye Trust.

In 1949 I was born into a working class family living in Walthamstow an East London borough. My schooling was typical of those times failing the 11+ and going to a secondary modern. I will come back to that.

School days were a happy time. Lots of football and not too much academic stuff.

Then came the awful prospect of getting a job! I rapidly jumped onto the exam escalator and got off ten years later with all the necessary qualifications, a degree and an MBA.

In the 1970s the computer industry was the place to be. I had a wonderful time working for some of the biggest companies, travelling the world and being paid for it.

Then I decided to make my fortune and start my own company. Forty years later it was still going. I hadn’t amassed the fortune but had done well enough and had lots of fun.

Along the way I discovered writing books was a good way to promote and expand my business.

The 1990s was the era of the internet. To help me become a ‘guru’ I wrote a book explaining how it was going to change the world. That opened the door to academia. I lectured at London Business School and Southampton University. Companies wanted to know how to exploit the web and I was there to tell them.

As the excitement of the dot.com world subsided I looked for the next challenge. Everybody knew the population was ageing but the government and businesses were doing nothing about it. I wrote three books on this subject and travelled the globe, consulting and lecturing. My personal website contains details of this period.

Just as I was getting into my stride along came retirement!
Where did the time go?

My job and lifestyle had enabled me to do lots of the things on my bucket list. Very briefly I considered adding skydiving, bungee jumping and running a marathon then thought better of it. Travelling the world seemed like a better idea, but then came Covid.

Instead, I decided to keep writing, not about business, but things that interested me.

My next two books were about very different subjects.

My teachers and headmaster were great. I owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

The media’s portrayal of secondary moderns is uniformly negative and nothing like my experiences. Many of my school mates had done very well–one had become an MP. I resolved to put the record straight.

In 2021 I published The Secondary Mod, which gives an unbiased account of the history and achievement of these schools. Read about the book here and maybe buy a copy.

Then came the Joy of Moaning – a guide to the exquisite art of moaning.

Moaning is no different from all the other things that make us feel good. In moderation it’s enjoyable and beneficial but taken to excess it can be dangerous. I find watching people moan a fascinating pastime. OK, maybe it’s a bit weird!

There have never been more things to complain about, more people anxious to join the moaning frenzy and more channels to express our displeasure.

Since we spend so much of our lives moaning why not do it like a professional? That’s what my next book was about, a moaning manual. Published in 2023, it also set me on the track to write Goodbye Trust.

A healthy and prosperous society needs efficient and trusted institutions – ours are busted. The West is witnessing plummeting levels of trust in academia, the media, politics, business, the justice system and the financial regulators.

Everybody has an explanation for what’s wrong. Most are superficial, and many are obsessed with the world becoming woke. My research shows that it’s much more complicated and far more disturbing. The levels of incompetence and deceit I discovered were astonishing.

I wrote Goodbye Trust in an essay style and based my conclusions on facts, not my prejudices. Despite the seriousness of its conclusions, it was fun to write.

What was it like to grow up in the aftermath of the First World War, come of age during the interwar years, and then be sent to fight when war returned? Millions lived through those decades. One of them was my dad.

All that remains is a shoebox of press cuttings, photographs, letters, and a few uncertain memories from my own childhood. From these I have written seven essays, tracing the experience of wartime Britain as it unfolded in one ordinary life.

Named after the ship he served aboard, lost at Tobruk, the essays are historical in approach but personal in origin. Written by a son trying to understand the world his dad grew up in and the experiences that shaped him.

I am steadily working through my bucket list, but much remains to be accomplished. In 2026 and beyond, I will aim to understand and harness the full power of AI to research and write. I am sure it will result in another book and maybe some updates to Goodbye Trust.