Dat is het nu tijd om de dag te beginnen met onze eerste spreker. Hij is een van de invloedrijkste, hij staat in de top 100 van meest invloedrijke Europese Denkers en presentatoren en hij heeft dat specialisme, technologie en humaniteit. En we hebben hem eigenlijk gevraagd van Gert, hoe zie jij de toekomst? Met alles wat er gebeurt op het gebied van technologie. Hoe zie jij de toekomst van eten en drinken voor je? En hij is niet het expert op het gebied van eten en drinken, maar wel van technologie. En hoe zie jij de rol van ons mensen? Hoe gaat dat veranderen? En wat moeten we doen met van allen? Daarom een warm applaus voor Gert Leonaard. Ik spreek ondraag, mensen gaan. Want ik wil je snel iets doen. Dus ik ben een futurist. Ik heb dit voor twintig jaar gedaan. Om te zeggen wat dat betekent, ik bedoel niet de toekomst van de toekomst. Ik bezoek de toekomst. Ik bekijk de volgende 5 tot 7 jaar en ik probeer hoe we kunnen incorporeren wat we zien in de toekomst van vandaag. En de toekomst vandaag is echt een duur toekomst voor mij, een toekomst van voet. Een heerlijke toekomst. Ik ben een hobby-koek. Ik koel mevrouwen elke dag, wanneer ik op huis ben. Als ik op huis ben. Ik bezoek te veel voor dat. Maar ik heb een sterk connectie met de voet. Dus ik wil beginnen met dit. De eerste is een heel belangrijk slide. De laatste 3 jaar, waar ik spreek, ik krijg feedback van mensen die zeggen dat de toekomst er waarschijnlijk zal zijn. Het is echt interessant. Het verhaalt in het land. Ik heb ook al in Zwitserland gezegd, maar in Duitsland, in de U.S. De mensen zeggen dat de toekomst is slecht, want eerst is het klimaatverandering. Niet de Amerikanen, maar ons. Het klimaatverandering is slecht. De machines komen, de roboten komen, de AI komen. En ze zullen onze werk eerst halen. En dan zullen ze ons bellen. Dus, 2050, de game over. En exponential verandering. Dit is het key Amerikanenfraag dat je hier vindt. Alles moet exponentieel zijn, maar het belangrijkste is exponential profit. Niet gewoon exponential gain. Vele mensen zijn gevoeligd over de toekomst. Maar, zoals Hans al zei, ik denk dat de toekomst beter is dan we denken. Als je kijkt naar de fact, het klimaatverandering. Echt hier. Lijf, expectancy, global child mortality, de toekomst van solarpanels, de toekomst van energie, de toekomst van batterijen, de toekomst, de toekomst, de toekomst. Wat we hier in de media zijn dat we waarschijnlijk een bed gaan doen in de toekomst. Maar als we naar de presentie kijken, kunnen we zeggen dat het een beetje beter wordt. Het enige probleem is natuurlijk dat deze probleem niet voor technische natuur is. Technologie zorgt voor verschillende problemen, maar niet voor anderen. Wat heeft gebeurd in de laatste 10 jaar met de internet, we hebben veel probleem gezocht, Free phone calls, great music, 10 euros for 21 million songs. Dat is allemaal goed. Maar we hebben geen sociale probleem gezocht. Inequality, de verschillende inkomst en de divide line tussen de half- en half-nots. Ik denk dat dat iets gaat zijn dat we verschillend moeten bezoeken. We gaan naar een volledig digitale future waar het eigenlijk gaat zijn dat het belangrijkste is om te worden connecteerd. In 10 jaar gaan we van 10 miljoen mensen op de internet ongeveer 80 procent van de hoge speed 5G en andere. We gaan ongeveer 9 miljoen mensen op fast speed connecten, vandaag is het 3.6. Dat maakt een groot verschil.  In mijn book die ik later zal laten zien called technology versus humanity this is the key chapter number 3. You can download for free at Megaships.digital in 10 languages. But it's about this whole change of what's happening which I used to call the Asians because they all end with Asian. But basically it's not just digitization it's virtualization intermediation like what Amazon has done to e-commerce mobilization cognification which is basically things becoming smart. Think about where that's going to go in the next 10 years. Computers will become so smart we don't even know that they're going to be there that we're just going to speak to a wall and they're going to give us answers. Language translation, driving cars flying airplanes automating work And many of those things will be amazing. Because they're going to take things that we don't really want to do and they're going to automate them. Now if you go to the airport at night closes at 12 it's not the people that come out to clear the airport it's the bots and it's the bots that take your luggage. So it's the changes that we're going to see are going to be mind blogging here and that's something you should take a good look at impacting food I'll talk more about that in detail shortly but here's a short video on this where the robot comes in does the cleaning or does the cooking I find this a bit strange why but okay so this is what's happening it could be heaven or it could be hell many of those things will say okay that's really great the refrigerator can tell the grocery store that's amazing if you're lazy that's good but maybe it's also a little bit maybe the refrigerator could also lock the door if I'm on the diet in fact there is a refrigerator from Samsung that does exactly this and it monitors your toilet too I'm not going to go into details here but this is basically a two way monitoring you could say so we're moving into a future where everything around us is becoming smart everything is connected everything is being read so you just have the transformer we call it jokingly and you stick the old business in smart city, smart home smart retail, smart transport smart food, smart agriculture maybe even smart government so that's what technology does paperless office, using apps everything online that's a good thing that only works really because we have in the end this in the background we have a machine that learns patterns that understands things some call it artificial intelligence I would propose that we forget the word because this is neither artificial I mean all computers are artificial and it's also not intelligent not like us we're intelligent in a pretty amazing way but we can't compete with computers on data input a computer can look at a real time social media input of 100 trillion feets and find a pattern we can't do that but then can you find a pattern that's not a pattern can it understand your message that you're not actually saying so when you have a conversation with humans most of the stuff that we transport is actually not said it's between the lines we communicate like this not just in a binary way like yes, no, yes, no we also don't live this way like computers do in a binary way it's either a zero or it's a one humans don't do that we say maybe change our mind maybe we lie, maybe we cheat maybe it's a 0.4 now tomorrow and this is how we work it's called multinary in a world like this where everything is smart I think it's fantastic because it's efficient with food and agriculture that's clearly going to be one of the big solutions but when we think about things like this the robots are coming everywhere we say that's also quite good because we used to have 90% of people farming around the world now it's 2.1 because we use machines on the other hand riffing off Einstein everything should be as smart as necessary but not smarter in other words a couple of things where I'm saying maybe this is a little bit too smart to be human to fit with us do we have to put a restrainer on it we want artificial intelligence to do all the donkey work for us the paperwork but we don't want the AI to decide if somebody is going to stay in jail or if you are going to have children or not values, ethics those are important questions Technology will not solve a political problem just because we have an AI Technology will just say so what, these people die Nou, het is efficiënt, dat is niet heel waar we op zijn. Dit is echt belangrijk voor ons om te houden. Laten we over de food gaan praten. We gaan meer over de midden in de tweede. 28% van de globale pollution CO2 is gehaald door agricultuur. De meeste van dat is dit midden. Niet zoveel chicken, maar meestal beef. En nu leven we in een wereld, we verbinden allemaal de beef. In Zwitserland hebben we nu radiofreakantie, ID-chips rond de kouden. Dat kost about 100.000 per barren. En dan kunnen de kouden melken. Want de melkenmachine komt automatisch en vindt het de target. Nu verbinden we alles, maar ik denk dat het heel interessant is Omdat we zien dat het in de toekomst van de toekomst is het eigenlijk gebeurt als zo waar we zeggen de toekomst is echt niet een extentie van de present. Als je kijkt naar alles rond ons, de toekomst is ongelijkbaar om te zijn als de present. De muziekbusiness, waar ik voor een lange tijd werk, was om plastic te zijn, een distributie te zijn. Nu is het in de koud. Muziek is basically free. Dat is 10 euro voor 20 miljoen salg, dat is basically free. Car companies today are saying well, the future of the car is not to have a car. To share the car, to have a subscription to a car, the Spotify for cars is coming, you may have heard. Apple is rumour to announce a subscription to Apple products. So you don't own it anymore, you just take whatever you want. And food, the future can't be like it is today. 300 miljoen tons of E40, whatever in our food. Huge water problems. Agriculture problems, CO2 problems. So what I'm hoping for is this convergence of biology, technology, food and agriculture. You could safely say that biology and technology are converging. The next 10 years will really accelerate this. In 20 years will be at the point where we can actually program animals and humans. Program in the sense of saying that genome should not be active, not in the sense of reprogramming, right? Chris McCas9, you heard about the operations and of course GMOs. Do we want that? Is that actually good? This is a very big discussion, of course, especially when it's about humans. But this convergence is going to be very, very positive for us in a larger sense, for example in energy. Technology can solve all of those problems piece by piece, but then we have to apply some sort of governance to it. I mean, if you're looking at these stats here, consider yourself lucky, you're living in the biggest time of technological transformation in human history.  AI was tried 30 years ago. But it's actually working today. I mean, look at the boom of things that's coming, energy storage, all of those things, right? The next 20 years will bring more change than the previous 300 years. And many people that I speak to are saying, well, you know, you lived in California too long with the superlatives and all those kind of things, right? I'm saying, 300 years ago, industrial evolution, maybe World War II, the atomic bomb. But what's going to happen in the next 20 years is we're going to be able to change ourselves. I don't think that's a really good idea to change ourselves in such a way.  I'm wondering if he's going to be the first to say that we're going to be able to change ourselves. I don't think that's a really good idea to change ourselves in such a way. But it's possible. I'm wondering if he's going to be the first to try this. So he says, we have to compete with AI and therefore our brain has to connect to the internet directly. Become a machine essentially.  They will never know how to drive a car because they can just speak to it. They will definitely not know gas engines. That's us. We love gas engines. We make the sound and everything. Huge chef coming. What does that mean for food? For agriculture? For health? I mean, the sky is a little better. 20 years, that's a long time. Let me show you what I call the game changes. The game chambers are nine things. You can also find that in my book. There are nine things in here that we need to know. Data, the cloud, the internet of things, intelligence, quantum computing, the blockchain, 3D printing, virtuality, and genome editing.  Do I have to know about all these things? Here's a list for you to pin on your wall. This is the result of the game changes. Data, connected everything, cloud everything. Anything can be computed. Now the idea of neuromorphic computing, 3D computing, is already here. The next step is quantum computing, which means computers that have an average power a million times of my box that's sitting on the table over there. So you can imagine in 10 years you will have unlimited computing power available at your fingertips in the cloud. Unlimited. I'm talking about seriously unlimited. I mean, today, if you use a device to scan your DNA, it takes a week cost a thousand euros. In 10 years, I do it on here while I'm having a date, if I were to date. It takes 4 seconds and it's free. So I can compare my DNA with yours to see if we're going to go on the date or not. And do other things. Who knows what happens there. So this is the advance of technology. I mean, all of the things are happening at the same time. So consider yourself lucky, it's very empowering, but it's also very scary. So we have to think about how do we react. In a world where food currently is not really connected, this is what's going to happen. Everything that we know in technology is going to impact what we do with food and distribution, how we eat, where we eat, what we eat, why we eat. There's only one thing about food, of course, that's really interesting. Food is human. Robots don't eat. They don't have to eat. This is one inefficiency that we have, humans. We have to eat, we have to sleep, we have to do all the things, we're not machines. And that's why I think food is so important. When we think in this context, this is definitely going to happen already, it's happening, the idea of reprogramming food, animals and humans. Because there's a big question about how we're going to supply the food. I have a big question, Mark, but I haven't really decided. It's kind of like nuclear energy. Is it charnable? Not so good? But then we think about the future of having coal, all in gas. Wouldn't we rather have nuclear fusion, solar energy? Big discussion. We have these things, like Chris Bacazna is going to revolutionize how we can actually deal with things. We're going to be able to program things. Many questions that show up about ethics. We have these trends, it's quite clear to us. We're going to have to feed a lot more people. But at the same time we have climate change issues and we're going to have less food. How do we solve this? So that's something we have to think about, okay, meat. I call this the great meat challenge. This is where it gets personal. I'm not much of a meat eater. I prefer not to eat meat all the time, especially not when I'm traveling. But that happens generally when you get older. I probably eat less meat than before. But here's a big question. The farmers were protesting in Holland a couple of days ago. About what's going to happen with the CO2 provision and the nitrate and all these things. And now the question really is can we find a future of meat where meat does not equal animals? I think it's coming. I tasted the other day the impossible burger. It's 2,000 euros a pound, so it was an expensive meal. I didn't pay for it though. It tasted good, just like a regular hamburger, which you can say tastes good or not, because it's actual meat from the lab. They call it from lab to fork. Without cruelty. Clean meat. There's a company called Clean Meat. It does this. Right now it's seriously expensive, but you can say, with the advent of technology, think about this years ago, if you were roaming from Holland to Germany, it would be like 2 euros a megabyte of internet access. And what is it today? Like 2 gigs included. So think about that for food. Bill Gates and Richard Branson were investors. In this they're saying, well basically in 10 years it'll be one tenth of regular meat. So imagine a city, not necessarily in Europe, but let's say in the Middle East. That has a very dry area. You can have one house in a luxury, a lab, that churns out the meat, and another house, a high rise for vertical farming. 100.000 people fed. And organic. No water pollution, no air pollution. That's a gigantic business when we think about this. So look at this chart. Global meat consumption. I mean of course you said this is wildly optimistic that people would actually adopt cultured meat like this. So in many ways in the future we have to question our assumptions. I always say jokingly if you're not worried then you're not thinking about the future enough. And if you're not confused you're not thinking about the future enough. Because these things are all happening at the same time. We really have to think this is what Richard Branson says about this, right?  And all that meat will be either clean or plant based. Well it's not going to be either or. Of course we know this. You can see what's happening. This is a two year old video clip from the World Economic Forum about this. We used to doubt if we can have a self-driving car. We used to doubt that a car battery lasts longer than 50 kilometers. And now the next Tesla will go 500 kilometers. In three years we're going to have a 10.000 year car that goes 2000 kilometers on one filling of electricity. At that point we won't even have a car because we can just hop into one. So it's going to really change our future in so many ways. So here's the farmers again to bring up a key point. Technology can do all these things. But we have to keep up. We have to change the way that we're doing things. We have to change our habits. Talk about my own habit. Flying. I fly to 100 gigs a year. And I go to Beijing for one day. I'm offset in the carbon but yeah. What if en I think this is quite likely in the near future you will pay as much for carbon offsetting than you pay for the airplane ticket. That's coming. Maybe not quite in that dramatic proportion right now it's like 50 cents to go from Amsterdam to Zurich. But clearly we're going to have to change our habits. Farmers are saying they'll quit. Which is not good. So lots and lots of political social issues. And we may see mandatory veganism.  And very soon it will be forbidden to drive your regular car in a city. We're going to be forced to say well if you want to eat meat it will be really expensive. Go to New Zealand where a pack of cigarettes is $65. And they want to bring it to 100. People are still smoking. But yeah you think about that if you smoke a pack a day that's kind of expensive. So yeah I think we're going to see those things in a much different way. And on the flip side of this technology allows us abundance. Think about the word abundance in German. Where you have so many things that you stop worrying about availability. We have abundant music. We have abundant films. We have abundant books. We have very soon abundant transportation. You know. Then we have abundant energy. Will we have abundant food? Using technology. Like take water on the other side. Water desalination is really expensive today. But the progress in water desalination is gigantic. We can expect in 10 years we can have not abundance that will be a little bit too hopeful. But we will have solved the water problem through desalination. So here is a clip from the past. A scene from Star Trek that shows true abundance. So the machine that prints your dinner. That is science fiction. But the machine prints ice cream today. It prints a pizza. It prints houses. It prints hearts. So parts of what we need will be printed. In the future our shoes can be printed in the store. It's also too expensive today but 10 years, yeah? I mean there's consumer goods companies that are looking at printing ice cream on demand. On the beach. So you go to the beach and say I want my ice cream to be the following mix and put your name on it. It prints it in real time. Well that's because it's mostly only chemicals in it. I guess it makes it easy. This technology is bringing abundance. It's hard to believe today, because we're sitting here saying a lot of people are still starving. They don't have water, they may not have toilets and all of these things.  I think it's technically feasible but it requires a lot of governance. Like what do people do that used to work there? And will we have new jobs? On that note I wouldn't be so pessimistic. Think about the past. 10 years ago we didn't have much social media. Today social media is media. 21 million people work in social media. Those jobs didn't exist 10 years ago. What jobs are we going to see because of this that don't exist today? Will there be enough jobs for everybody? Probably not. Different discussion, I'll get back to that in a second. But we're moving towards a new economic logic. Quite clearly if we're looking at the world economic risk chart this is in terms of impact on the left, nuclear war of course but on the right this is our new normal. Hans also mentioned this earlier. We need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. That's the new normal. This is basically going to be like this and 10x, 100x. The future has extreme weather, climate change, natural disasters, data fraud. 2 big things, 2 sort of natural emergencies. 1 is climate change and the other one is human change. We have to think about which way we're going with this because we can see on those charts clearly that GDP is growing. In general speaking we're making more money but all the negative effects are also growing. Temperature, sea level, energy use. Energy we can solve. We'll have the tech to create enough energy for lower prices. The other things, yeah that is going to be some heavy lifting. And I think basically we can safely say today if you listen to greater speak business as usual is dead. In the next couple of years all companies in the field of food and health and everything around it will live up to a new standard. Is it sustainable? Is it circular? Is it good for people? Does it make money? That's one of the concerns. And Unilever, Procter & Gamble and all these companies are now thinking about this how can we make customized food and personalized food. What is the new business when the business of selling huge mass markets is finished? 2 considerations. Climate change in the next 20 years we're just going to have to put up with it and adapt. That's going to cost trillions just to address this. But then again it's probably a big growth in jobs on that side of the equation. In 20 years we can probably go back and fix it. CO2, taken CO2 out. Then the other thing is also kind of a pollution, right? Digital pollution. Human change. Facebook. The biggest digital polluter you can imagine. Polluting our minds. I left Facebook last year because of that reason. I'm not speaking at Facebook events. Because this is a real problem, right? We're now going into a world where we have the one pollution is CO2 and the other pollution is data. That's something we have to think about when we think about human change and where that's going. Back to the climate change component here. Looking at this graph it's quite clear. This is United Nations climate change panel information. The southern hemisphere is in real trouble. We're in the temperature rises. And it is. So here's the shocker number. Between 150 and 300 million climate refugees by 2050. Talking about immigration problems, right? Yeah, I mean a couple of hundred thousands, a couple of million people. We're talking about almost 300 million if the temperature goes up four degrees. Basically you can't live there anymore. Shocker number but then again we're going to see we're going to see dramatic adaptation measures. And this discussion is just now starting. We're going to see measures that says okay, no more cruise ships. CO2 on airplanes. No cars in cities. Mandatory charge to eat meat. Unimaginable today because yeah, it's not free capitalism. It's not. But what choice do we have? That's going to trouble charge information. We're moving to a new logic. This is sustainable capitalism. This is not socialism by the way. Just in case you're thinking in this direction. This is an idea of saying we have four principles. People, planet, purpose and prosperity. There was a book that was called the triple bottom line which is very similar. You should read. Now for the first time ever there was a CEO round table a couple of weeks ago in the US where the CEOs of major companies announced that in the future it will no longer be just about shareholder value. Of course it may be whitewashing or greenwashing if you want. Yeah, it could be. Robert F. Kennedy said this in 1968. GDP, GNP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile. It is utterly useless for us to think about growth and profit and money when we have no place to enjoy. And this is dawning on people now. We had this idea of saying where are we going with this? This is a new trend we're going to see a new stock market this would be a great idea for Holland. Let's create a stock market only for companies adhered to the four bottom lines. Like we have NASDAQ for tech let's have the quadruple P DAQ index for companies who are on that agenda. So I can invest. I think that's going to be a good idea. Let me talk about the future of work and then we're going to have some questions later also with Hans. Early what's happening is that this is a number one topic. Intelligent machines. Again, forget about the word AI.  I mean I can use this very soon. There's a rumor that you can use WhatsApp and you can have a realtime translation on whatever you've spoken into it. So you speak a little message to whoever like we all do. But then you can say convert the Chinese. Is that going to be taking the translators out of business? Where are they over there? Not really, but yeah. It's a gradual thing. AI is going to be everywhere taking care of our routines. It's the end of routine for us. Whatever routine you are doing if it doesn't require human input or compassion machines will learn it. Accounting, bookkeeping all the thing driving, checking out the supermarket call centers, 21 million people. Do you get compassion in a call center? I don't know, maybe at KLM do you do, I don't know. Generally speaking it's not required. I just solved the problem. We're going to see a rapid automation. You see the first one here. Food preparation. Of course that goes for food preparation like fast food. Not for restaurants of that nature. It's interesting to see McDonald's and Burger King are both looking at fully automating the burger places. So the food can be even better than today. I'm just kidding. But there's one person running the whole thing. They just automate the whole thing. On the flipside now we can clearly see there's going to be damage by AI in automation down here. Construction, manufacturing transportation, storage jobs declining. In the construction business can you print a house? They're doing it in Chinese a company called Weisun prints the whole house and prints the furniture and the people. Prins everything. On the flipside of this whole thing, take a look at the top of the pyramid where we're looking at situations like healthcare. We talked about that yesterday. Scientific communications, hospitality for some reason food is missing here. Hospitality I guess is food. Growing, right? Anything that requires human ingenuity creativity, design, negotiation conversation, empathy, compassion is growing. That's our future job. That's why the food business is going to be a great business. We're not going to automate eating because we can eat paste like an astronaut, right? I mean this is a human thing that we do. Our ultimate jobs is to be human. To not be a robot. Ten years ago we were looking at this and say oh humans have to function well and be productive and be efficient and all these things. So we were working like robots ten years ago basically including myself.  Many of our kids at school today are learning how to download information and act like a robot. Case study from A to B of this and that, like a computer. The future is going to be about being malleable understanding things in a different place inventing stuff, inventing your own job. Some people are saying roughly 70% of new jobs haven't even been invented yet. That's our kids. We're talking about it here. They have to invent their own job. Look at the skill map of tomorrow. Also a bit confusing because there are so many of them but here let me zoom in on this. So move on a top quadrant here. This is the top right that was on the right before this. And you can basically see what's happening. There's two things that are going to guarantee our work in the future. That's human only skills and technology. Look at this thing here. Technology, design, project management, critical thinking, advanced IT. Right next to each other. You want your kids to have work in the future? That's it. We have to understand technology. If you don't understand technology, you're toast. But technology as such will not be your ticket because computers are learning to program themselves. It's about understanding people. That's why you're here. You're not downloading information. I hope you're also discussing it. So let me wrap up with the discussion of digital ethics. This is the key topic for 2019. Technology has become so powerful again a quadrant here that shows you the most powerful things are also the most potentially harmful. That is genome editing especially for humans and artificial intelligence. We can use AI as a weapon of war. In fact, many countries are very excited about this.  That should be banned, but obviously a difficult discussion. Zooming in on this, I would say basically, I think the most promising future is one where we don't stop doing things because we're worried. But we also don't dismiss the risk. Like if we build the internet of things, if we build a new data economy, then we're all dead. If we build a new data economy, then we also have to put up with the consequences. If Facebook wants to be in social media, then they shouldn't be acting asocial. In my view, they have more from being good for us to be in the worst poison you can imagine. They want to change and they have to change. They have to be responsible. It can't be somebody else's business to mop up after companies that take advantage of the digital economy. So it has to be included in the business model. Be holistic. And there's a real danger. This is a scene that was in the Internet a couple of weeks ago is a guy in the Tesla who is sleeping. It may have been fake, but it was definitely interesting. This is kind of our attitude with technology, right? We're sleepwalking into technology.  We don't go anywhere without this because this is our mission control. So I have some new rules. I don't take the mobile phone in the bedroom anymore. If I can't go out for dinner without the phone, we call it go naked because it's not covered. We really have to think about this. Let's not go blindly into a future that says whatever can be done should be done. That's a very bad idea. Because in ten years we can do anything. You want to replace your legs with a prosthesis so you can do better mountain climbing? You can. You can do that today. There are people wanting to do that today. Can you marry a robot? People want to do that today. Don't laugh. This is a big story. We have to think about this. What is the new normal? How far do we go? Final thoughts on this. Six future principles. The first ones everybody knows. Exponential growth. Converging industries. Combinatorial skills. New things that become possible because of science. That's progress. And that progress is going to be so mind-boggling in the next ten years if you don't observe it you'll be perpetually late. But here's the other part of this. In the new future when we think about food, healthcare, well-being we got to think beyond the exponential. Keep in mind that humans aren't exponential. We're linear. We're organic. We're not going to compete with machines as much as you want, we're not. Right now we're kind of as smart as machines or vice versa. In ten years a machine with an IQ of one million. How do we compete? We're going to be humans. The machines will never be human like we are. We have to think about holistic business models. Every company we do business with will be required to fill the agenda. The circular economy sustainability, not just on energy but everything else. Human benefit. Go back to Facebook for a second. Facebook has been the most profitable company in the history of digital companies on the internet. If you had invested in Facebook four years ago when they went public you would have made the most money. Every time Facebook gets into a problem with privacy, which was 28 times last year the stock goes up. When they were announced that they're going to pay 5 billion euros to the European Commission for Privacy Violation the same day the stock went up 8%. As long as we have a mindset that says it doesn't matter what comes out of the other end as long as we have jobs and employment and more money we're fine. That will not work. If we continue on that road we're toast. Because these things make a lot of money. I mean the oil industry made lots of money to regulate it. We're going to see all these things in the future coming together in a joint new agenda that I call Sustainable Capitalism. I'm going to leave you with that thought and we can discuss a little bit with Hans later. Thanks very much for listening. I have a couple of free books with me. If you see me later you can grab one. Thanks very much for listening. What do you think of this audience? Yes, nice people. Nice venue too. Did you ever have such a warm welcome as you experienced just a minute ago? A few times but it was nice to have that again. Ok, ok. I understand there are some questions from the audience. So this is the first one. What about when the robots get feelings of our conscience? What will happen with humanity? It has five likes so this is a popular one. That's a good one. Let's put it this way. What robots and AI can do is that they can understand our humanity. Like they can read my face and say our girl is tired or whatever. They can do that and then they can say this is what a tired human looks like. And they can copy it. Simulate it. But this is called the Chinese room problem. Basically the computer has no idea how to actually understand what it feels like to be tired. It has all the physical science.  What it's good for. Information that you see on computers is basically a mathematical value. It's not an emotion. Consciousness is not agency. How we do that as humans? We don't really know that. How are people emotionally intelligent? Allegedly women are mostly emotionally intelligent. How does that work? Why would you want a computer to be emotionally intelligent? And what a computer would do is it would run 100 trillion hours of video and would say these women are really emotionally intelligent. I'm going to be like this. Copy it. Simulate it. But that doesn't mean that they're existing. I mean they're simulating a response. So basically you may have seen the robot Sophia which was a bit head last year from Hansen Robotics in Hong Kong. And Sophia was put on the stage to have a conversation with people. To have real life intelligent answers like a person. But the bottom line is Sophia had saved a million possible replies on every possible question. It's like an archive. So you ask Sophia what is the purpose of life and she has a million possible answers. And what she does, she says the guy looks angry or happy or the audience is excited. I'm going to pull out this answer. Like IBM Watson does. And she gives a good answer but the answer in itself is absolutely useless for the computer. It has no idea what it's saying. It's just pulling out a response. So to understand that a computer will be like us where we don't do this. When you think of your husband or your wife you don't pull out the JPEG like this. You say oh there she is.  It's a million facts. I think you once said we're not downloaded. We're born. Is becoming like us, it may be possible when they get really fancy in 50 years. Oh this is a good question. How will artificial intelligence change hospitality. That's the human experience a lot of people you see in hospitality. The high touch thing of our business. I think hospitality especially restaurants and hotels will be impacted by every process that is routine. That is not so important computers kunnen doen. I mean, let's put it this way, if I'm in a nice hotel, I'm going to sit down for dinner, I don't want to order my wine on an iPad, you know. But I'm 56, I'm not 14, I'm 14-year-old if they can drink wine, you know, whatever, anti-alcoholic beverage list, they'll be happy with an iPad or it was to watch. So this is the thing about us, you know, the market is becoming fragmented and technology helps us to serve those people. In a hotel we're going to be able to pick our music before we arrive, all lights, and those are good things, right? But do I want to have to go to an iPad, you know, to talk to somebody, no. So I think that basically what's happening is the more we digitize, the more the human connection becomes valuable. But it is a bit of a premium. So something you have to pay for. I think we're going to pay for a human service and we're going to pay for privacy. We're already paying for privacy. We're paying for privacy. We're looking at Apple, right? We're paying for being private. But I think this is really important. It's a polarization, you know. For the stuff that's commodity, we pay less and it's automated. You go to a sushi restaurant where you can talk to the iPad and you don't have a waiter, the bot comes out with a sushi. A person makes a sushi, yeah. Okay. We're talking about that. Will humans still make food in the future or will there be some kind of robo-chef with three Michelin stars? Ik denk dat het dezelfde gaat zijn dat we vastvoeten hebben, ongeveer automatisch. Iets dat is van dat waarschijnlijk geval, waarin dat al een soort automatisch is. En dan hebben we de top-end waar het allemaal over is om mensen. En we gebruiken nog machines voor boekkeping en dat soort dingen. Dus ik denk dat we machines en robots gaan gebruiken, ongeveer in ieder geval. Maar als we een reale connectie willen hebben. Ik denk dat het geluid is dat het digitale gevaar is, dat het in digitale gevaar is, dat het ook niet de download is. Voor de mensvindelijkheid is het allemaal over relaties en ervaringen. En dat is wat de food is allemaal over. Dus kunnen we relaties relaties hebben? Ja, we kunnen en mensen kunnen dat ook doen. Maar genereel, ik denk dat dat is wat we voor de relaties gaan spelen. Willen we dat veranderen? Ja, waarschijnlijk in welke manier. Maar dat is mijn hoop dat we dit kunnen ontdekken. Ja, dus de industrie, de rest van de industrie, de hospitaliteit, zal nog steeds een vitale rol in de society spelen, in de komende 30 jaar. Ja, ik denk dat de CEO van Walmart heeft gezegd, de meer we digitiseren, de meer we verschillen met de mensvindelijkheid. Want dat is een straat ding te zeggen voor Walmart, ik denk het. Ja, dus voor ons is het over dit proces. Als we digitiseren, moeten we ook ontdekken wat we willen houden. Absoluut. Ik zeg altijd dat de meer we connecten, de meer we moeten protecten ook. We moeten eigenlijk de veiligheid tegen het geven op te veel. Ja, dat is een interessant ding. Ja. En dat is wat we gaan spenden, wat serieus geld op dat ook, denk ik. We hebben nog een vraag van de audience, misschien? Met het schoolsysteem, lag het achterbij de volgende tech-developementen, wat zijn jullie advies om te zorgen dat ze voor de toekomst zijn? Ja, het is een goede vraag. Ik heb eigenlijk de volgende 5 tot 10 jaar gehaald. Als je in tech en je een tech-educatie hebt, dat is goed, want we hebben niet genoeg mensen die in tech doen. Ik denk dat vandaag, als je een data-scientist, je meer geld maakt dan de CEO. In 10 jaar, de tech zal het programma itselfen. We kunnen op het computer spelen en zeggen, hey, maak een app. We kunnen dat nu, het is gewoon niet echt werken. Maar in 5, 7, 10 jaar, ik denk dat vandaag, Indië graderert 1 miljoen ingeneers per jaar. Dat is omdat machines een beetje sterk zijn. Ik moet de machine vertellen hoe de bridge is gebouwd. Kan ik een machine vertellen hoe je de bridge moet opbouwen en het opbouwen in 10 jaar? Misschien. Dus in 10 jaar, een tech-educatie is niet genoeg. Zodat je op de heel, heel hoogte bent. Maar gewoon een regelaar, je moet mensen hebben. Humanities, ethics, enthousiast, filosofie, negociatie. En doe je empathie in school? Of compasitie, of emotione enthousiast, waarschijnlijk niet. Maar ik denk dat we dat gaan zien op de agenda van school. Interessant. We gaan terug naar dit, schijfting weg van dit obsessie van zeggen, iedereen moet weten hoe de programma is. En natuurlijk, iedereen moet weten hoe de programma is, maar is dat gaan we ons nu saven? Het is leuk om te weten, maar iedereen moet zijn hume. En in dat geval, ik denk dat we de toekomst kunnen saven. Oké, de laatste vraag, misschien. Kan je imagineren dat het een technische solution is, dat er in de future een biologische need is voor de food? Dus we moeten niet drinken. Dat zal een seriële resentie zijn. Ja, dat is de volgende vraag. Ja, natuurlijk, technologie maakt allerlei dingen mogelijk. Kan je in de toekomst van de toekomst in 20 jaar, waar we 150 gaan leven, dat is mogelijk. Kan je imagineren dat we in de toekomst superhumus gaan zijn, zoals Trump, Cruz en de minoriteit? Ja, het is mogelijk met technologie. De vraag is, wat willen we? Wat willen we zijn? Dat is de belangrijkste vraag. Natuurlijk kunnen we dat doen. Maar ik denk dat het een hume is dat er niets aan te doen met technologie. En een van ze is het eten. Ja, het is niet efficiënt om te eten en het hele processus eten en slapen. Maar mensen hebben al gezegd dat ze, bijvoorbeeld kinderen vandaag, niet echt moeten leren hoe hun hand maakt. Er is geen reden om hoe hun hand maakt, omdat in een heel langere tijd de computer alle dingen voor jou doen net door te denken of om te spelen.   Dus ik denk dat voor ons het hume is het primaire objectief. En de eten zijn echt een deel van dat. Dus ik kan dat bezoeken om dat te zijn. Je weet, misschien is Elon Musk zullen zeggen, we gaan het opgeven tot de halen die hij drilt. Ja, ja. Ja, ik weet het niet, maar we zien het. We wachten voor zijn aandacht. Dank u wel. Dank u. Dank u. Dank u. Gertigedemar. Goedelen. Dank u. Goedendag.


Obviously a postal networks predated independence because African states with the exception of Ethiopia were colonies and therefore they inherited the local administration and with that the postal system and the postal infrastructure but upon independence of course they sometimes struggled to maintain that infrastructure. Because decolonisation occurred very rapidly in certain instances like the Congo, it was almost overnight that independence was given to the Congo. So there was a struggle to maintain the infrastructure and so on. But the other issue is that these colonies had been dependencies on colonial powers and they were members of the UPU by virtue of that relationship with those mother countries. So the colonies were UPU members and therefore they did benefit from this international system. When decolonisation occurred states became independent in the 60s which is the period that I'm talking about. For instance in 1964 there were 22 African states that were members of the UPU at that time when they met and signed the constitution in Vienna. But then of course most states that became independent were automatically admitted to the UPU. But then there were states, secessionist states, unilaterally independent states, rebel states if you like, that weren't given membership. I spent the archives yesterday trying to ascertain whether they actually applied for membership and I wasn't able to find any documentation to that effect. And I can only assume that they didn't. But they did issue stamps nonetheless even though they were not admitted to the UPU, they weren't members of the UPU. And they did so of course to assert sovereignty but the mother countries, and I'm talking about three states in my paper, I'm talking about Katanga which broke away from Congo, I'm talking about Biafra which broke away from Nigeria. Both those countries were not recognised by the international community, they didn't become members of the United Nations and therefore had no standing in the UPU. Rhodesia was the other case that I'm looking at, they were still legally part of the British Empire, still deemed to be a colony and their postal services were not recognised although stamps were used to send mail to Britain and only the British government did respond by declaring certain of their issues invalid and therefore imposed some sort of sanctions on the use of a certain redigion stamps. Well member states in this case Nigeria and the Congo Leopoldville were members of the union and when these succession of states broke away they wrote to the director general of the UPU and informed them that these states were issuing stamps illegally that they were invalid and that they should notify UPU members not to accept them. The UPU duwley did that, they sent out circulars to that effect and so in that sense the UPU role was actually to reinforce non-recognition of the sovereignty of these breakaway states and that was true not only as I say by Afro and Katanga but also of Rhodesia. So in effect the rules or the norms of sovereignty that prevailed in the 1960s were reinforced by the UPU.


Hey everyone, I'm Lewis Malay. Welcome to the podcast. This episode was originally recorded on one of my live streams. If you want to watch or listen to more of my content, please follow me on the various social media channels. Please leave a review, subscribe, and I hope you enjoy it. Hey everyone, welcome to the show. So today it's really a pleasure to be joined by Graham Hartop, who is the CEO of Hamden Private Bank. So many people have been thinking about personal finance, what to do, how house prices are going to go, interest rates, mortgages, you know, all of those things. So I thought I'd get an expert. And so let me get Graham. Graham, thank you very much for joining me. Delighted to be here. Thanks, Lewis. Pleasure. Where are you? Are you in the office? You at home? I'm in my dining room as I have been for the last nine months in Edinburgh. Right. And that's how, I mean, just to start with, how have you found the pandemic? How's it been? Well, I mean, first of all, in terms of the technology side of things and moving to this remote working, it's actually been remarkably successful. And we took a decision even prior to the official lockdown to just start testing that out with all our staff. And it's been remarkably successful and we've had lots of comments coming in from our clients just saying how much they appreciate still being able to contact us in the same way. So I think that that has been a very positive factor. I guess the negative factor is the fact that you have much less contact with your colleagues.  We've also had about 10 people joining the bank since lockdown. So they've actually joined. And their only experience is meeting their colleagues online, which is quite an unusual situation.  You know, I haven't been in their office. They haven't taken my coat. They've not made me a coffee. I haven't even tried their biscuits.  So it's been it's been really interesting recruiting over the pandemic as well, all of it virtual. How have you found, given your leading leading the bank, how have you found, say, building it over the pandemic and maybe getting across building this virtual culture? Yeah, I mean, it has been very interesting. And, you know, we have we build our bank on relationships.  So, you know, that clearly changed the way that we were dealing with people. But because we've got very good modern technology, that communication with our clients and and prospective clients are still being extremely good. And, you know, although it's built on relationships, we have got that good technology there. And we can still deliver the same level of service. So actually, what we've seen over it's nearly a year now is that much more business has been referred our way because we can continue to deliver that to relationship service. And I know in some of the bigger banks, it's more of a challenge and getting through to call centres. And, you know, that's the sort of feedback that we get. So our existing clients are very happy with the service they're given, they're being given. And they are then introducing us into their contact bases. And so the client base has really grown over the last year. Wow, interesting. So you've found that the customers have happily transitions to, is it video call you're doing or telephone app? Yeah, it's a mixture. And essentially, we try to allow our clients to contact us in the way that suits them. Now, a lot of our clients would have used telephone in the past, and they will continue to use telephone, a lot of course, user digital channels.  And a lot have actually adopted a new video technology quite well too. And particularly for new client situations, I think that's very important to get to know people and using that video conferencing capability.  Have you, have you found you've been able to deliver that just as effectively online versus again, seeing them face to face, you know, wearing a suit and tie, I guess it's been unusual for you not to wear the suit and tie. It's been, yeah, have you found that transition? Yeah, I mean, it has been very interesting. And you're absolutely right about the suit and tie. I haven't taken a suit out of the wardrobe since last March. I hope the mops haven't eaten them all. But, you know, in terms of service, we it's been relatively seamless for us. You know, the difference for us is that we don't get that face to face contact. And, you know, quite normally, we're out and about seeing our clients. And, you know, we have them along at events and things like that. So that that's obviously diminished or completely stopped. But in terms of the service, our clients get what they really value is being able to contact the private banker at any point in time, particularly when they've got a more difficult situation to deal with. And that sort of communication channel hasn't changed for them. So that our clients really value that. And that's why so much business has been referred to us. Brilliant, brilliant. And do you think just, I guess, post COVID era sounds like pre-World War, post-World War, now doesn't that? Do you see this trend of like almost digitalising the way you offer and provide your services? Do you see that continuing? Yes, very much so. And, you know, what, you know, our main service proposition is about the relationships. But we want to allow our clients to contact us through the mechanisms of their choice. And a lot more people are much more comfortable using digital technology nowadays. And that's great for, you know, 90% of your transactions. And we'll continue to develop that. So we've got a good digital platform there. There's always things that we want to do to evolve and develop that platform. But nonetheless, we will still retain that relationship, human contact because quite a lot of our clients have got quite complex affairs. And they need to talk to people about, you know, how they best resolve a particular situation. And that is hugely valued by our client base. How are you seeing the economy right now? I mean, we've had the COVID, Brexit is on the way now. Dan, actually. What's your outlook this year? Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I'm kind of naturally an optimist. But, you know, there's a lot of positive signs there in terms of, you know, got a bit more political stability. The economy was starting to pick up before COVID. And clearly, it's been a huge issue over the last nine or 10 months. But there's no doubt about it that with the vaccine coming in, there's a bit of optimism there that things can start to get back to normal. There is no doubt that there's a lot of people that have managed to save a lot of extra money over the period of lockdown. And, you know, and I think that will be utilised in quite a way once we do get back to a position where lockdown has ended. So I think that all goes quite well for the economy. A very important aspect for us is where interest rates are in a bank. And, you know, we're obviously sitting at base rates close to zero and 10 basis points, which has never been the case in 300 years of the Bank of England.  And so for those that don't know, why is that? So obviously, I put my money in, you try, I get almost zero interest, you're lending money, and getting very, very minimal interest back. So what's the one of the dynamics around this low interest rates for you? Yeah. So, so, fortunately, in the UK, we haven't gone into negative rates, and where we've seen that in quite a number of other countries and currencies that what normally happens with a with a private bank, normally some of your net interest margin would come through from your deposit book. And private banks are, we've got a conservative balance sheet tends to be, we have a higher level of deposits than we would have lending. And you'd normally get a net interest margin to be able to service that deposit base, and generate a bit of profitability coming through from that deposit book. When interest rates are down at zero or very close to zero, you've therefore got no interest margin A to service those deposits, and B obviously to make a bit more profitability in them. But it's hugely important, and we're building this business for the long term to continue to grow our deposit book. And of course, what we need that for is then to, for us to be able to undertake our lending activities. And we're getting great success in that. What we have real specialism in in the lending side is what I would refer to as complex but low risk lending, you know, it's to private the private banking world, people have complex affairs. And it's, it's about getting our very experienced bankers to understand the affairs. So we don't have an automated mechanism to make the lending decisions. It's about experienced bankers making those decisions. So again, that's been something that has been very popular over this period of people being able to discuss their lending needs with us. Right. So it's quite a lot of stuff to unpack there. So if you're in, I mean, I think just to wind back, if you're in, if you've been employed during the pandemic, you would have found actually you've got more cash at the end of each month, right? You're not commuting, you're not not going out as much, no entertainment. So, you know, being employed, I think you've got more cash. What's interesting is given it's the low interest rates of people actually keeping their money in a bank account earning zero, in fact, within with inflation over time, the money, the value of money goes down over time. So are people just leaving in there? Or are they investing in the stock market and doing other interesting things with it now? Yeah, I think it's been a mixture actually. And if you go back right at the beginning of the pandemic period, I think there's more just staying in cash. But I think as the vaccine has come through, people are starting to feel more optimistic. So there's more money going into alternative investments, going back into the stock market or looking for other forms of investment rather than leaving in cash, which as you rightly say, is earning virtually zero at this stage. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. I think it feels like in fact, my wife has just had the vaccine. She works in the NHS. My dad's just had it. He's 76 or seven. So it feels like once you start to know people that have had the vaccine, then you're right, you feel so much of this is confidence, isn't it? And you feel like it's getting better. I just can't help but feel given a year or two, it might be like the 1920s, you know, it's going to come roaring back because people are people want to feel like they want to go out and spend money. They want to have fun with their friends. They want to entertain and I feel it will come back strongly. Yeah, I absolutely share that. And, you know, it's just the things that we took for granted pre COVID that, you know, we went out to restaurants and, you know, you socialize with your friends and did other other things that people are just so looking forward to getting back to doing these things, which will really help boost the economy.  I think so.  We always just have to bear in mind, there's an awful lot of people that, you know, have fallen on the other side, you know, lost their jobs, having to pivot, think about new careers. So, you know, hopefully there's a lot of work done around, around creating new jobs as well. Absolutely.  And, you know, we spoke about the hospitality industry there and looking around in Edinburgh, there are a number of businesses that have been around for a long, long time, who've actually permanently closed now, which I think is just tragic. But, you know, that's a reflection of what has happened over the last year. But, you know, I'm hopeful that there'll be lots of new businesses that will spring up once we do get back to that bit of normality. Yeah, now I heard some great stats and I can't remember exactly what they were. So I'm not going to quote them verbatim, but there's been a lot of new businesses that have started. I mean, a lot have failed and closed, as you said. But I think also in times like this, people are being quite entrepreneurial. You know, if you've lost your job as an employee, what can you do? Can you start a business? Can you start an online business? So there might be another wave of entrepreneurship this year, I think, which would be really cool. Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. And, you know, technology has really helped in that and, you know, getting some new ideas, new business activities coming through. So I think, you know, in some respects, some of the businesses, you know, it's good to get that rejuvenation coming through. But you know, there's no doubt about it. There's a lot of good businesses that have been badly impacted by this. But I'm sure we will get a lot of good new businesses coming through once we're through the pandemic. Definitely. You mentioned negative interest rates. So you can explain that. So what what's a scenario when when a government might have to to drop it even further? And then what does the effect? Am I am I essentially paying you to keep my money? How does it work? Yes, well, well, that is the case.  My own take on where we are in the UK at the moment is that I think it's unlikely we'll move into negative rate territory. But certainly the regulators, you know, they it is there as a tool to use it should they think it is the right thing to do. But I think it's unlikely. But you're absolutely right. So on a negative interest rate, and we've seen it in other currencies, the euro is a good example at the moment, where there are negative rates in the euro so that certainly for bigger depositors, if they deposit monies into a bank, then they will be charged to actually hold those deposits. And actually, you know, on the other side of that balance sheet, there have been one or two situations where borrowers have actually been paid to undertake lending. So it is perverse, but that is really a reflection of these negative interest rates. And it is, you know, it's designed to to help the economy and and help banks to continue lending out into the community and, you know, to deter people storing up savings to use it in other ways. Interesting. Well, that made us nicely onto the housing market. Because again, that's a huge, a huge topic for so many people. And it's interesting to see what your perspective on it. I've heard recently that the housing market's done pretty well in the UK. And I guess that's driven by people wanting to move out of London. And I think a lot of people have been trying to buy properties in the country and things like that. What have you seen from your perspective? Yeah, I mean, it's been very buoyant over the last year. And if we look back, say, look at 2019, actually, the housing market was stronger in Scotland in compared to London and the Southeast, where we tend to have a lot of a lot of business. Although it was still at a reasonable level, it was stronger in Scotland in 2019. In 2020, actually, we've seen it being very strong down in London and the Southeast. There's definitely quite a bit of people trying to upscale, move from central London locations and into more rural or, you know, smaller towns out with London. So people just looking for, understandably, looking for that bit of space. But definitely, the market has been pretty buoyant. Stamp duty holiday has helped in that regard. That is due to end at the end of March this year, which will have some form of impact. Quite a lot of the commentators, particularly the estate agents are, you know, they're still reasonably optimistic, but a few commentators looking as though there may be price falls over the course of this year once the stamp duty holiday ends. But actually, we saw the highest rates of house price inflation last year that we've seen for some time. So I think the average was about 7, 7 and a half percent across the country, which is a pretty significant uplift. And London itself, actually, for the first time, the average house price is over half a million pounds. Has it even went up this year? Interesting. Yeah.  We've seen we've seen we've seen a rental income go down. Rate and rents are going down in London.  So so that will be interesting. It feels like it's funny, I speak to a few friends that have moved out to the countryside and it feels like people might end up moving back to the city because the thing with the city is this debate between country versus city. But, you know, during a pandemic, it's lovely to be in the countryside, but you don't there's a lot of less people around. So there's a lot less things to do. You know, city life is so you can go for walk. It's quite vibrant, even during a pandemic. So I think it'll be interesting to see if there's a flow back to a city like London or if the countryside and mobile areas remain strong. Yeah. I mean, I share your view and optimism about that. London will continue to thrive. We have seen a bit of a change at the moment. Once we're through the pandemic, you know, I'm pretty hopeful that we'll get back to sort of some kind of normality that we saw pre pandemic pandemic because, you know, it is such an attractive place to live in London. It's cool. It'll be it'll be interesting to see how it lands there because, you know, trying and winding back to the start of our conversation around, you know, being able to do things digitally on video and it really enables companies, and I've seen this firsthand, you know, they're able to hire from a much wider geographical scope. A lot of companies that would want people based in London or in a certain city, they're thinking now, why do they need to be? Yeah, that is very much the case. And, you know, with technology, inevitably, and I think a lot of firms will be seeing this, particularly in the sort of professional services arena, that we will behave a bit differently once we're through this. And, you know, I was probably a bit more skeptical about home working prior to coming into this, but actually productivity, the service to our clients has been extremely good over this period. So we'll end up with a, you know, a hybrid type of model going forward. But, you know, inevitably, that will have a bit of an impact on the commercial property market in places like London. Definitely. Just to end, what is your now, your experience working from home for nine months? What is your ideal working scenario once all this is is over? Yeah, no, interestingly, and I'm very fortunate because I only live a few minutes from the office right in central Edinburgh. So it is not a hardship for me to get into the office. So I think, you know, I'd probably I'll move back to probably 80 percent in the office and maybe a day a week so that you can really have that good quality time to think and, you know, maybe focus much more on strategic issues that you're not getting interrupted in the office. So I think for me, that would be ideal. Some of our people I think they'll move back to 100 percent in the office. But some actually could be the other way around in that four days a week they might be out of the office and maybe just a day a week in the office. So there'll be a bit of a balance there. Interesting. And you're now and you're now comfortable with your with your employees kind of almost choosing the best way for them to work in the week. Yes, we will. And, you know, that's something that we'll be looking at the operational model very carefully. You know, some people there's a huge benefit from being in the office. Others, you know, we want them to be out and about. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Well, Graham, thank you so much for joining me. Really appreciate it. And I look forward to seeing you face to face for a coffee very soon. Look forward to that, Lewis. Thanks a lot. See you. See you. Bye.


It's now time for member statements to member for a lot of products and anything. Thank you very much speaker Speaker, I'd like to share the experiences of two constituents of mine Heather and Maynard Payne both experienced nurses who have endured Nothing but frustration and delays with the College of Nurses of Ontario Our local hospital has an immediate requirement for a nurse with mr. Payne's expertise However, he's not been able to clear the obstacles at the CNO Mr. Payne is an American born permanent resident of Canada with 20 years operating room experience in the United States Mrs. Payne was born in Canada and educated as a nurse here They have experienced significant and unjustified delays with credentials approvals and registration through the CNO Shockingly one of the many significant delays was a requirement for both Heather and Maynard to prove they speak English To further frustrate the matter when I spoke to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration About this issue and the proposed amendments to the Health Professionals Act He told me it was not his department, but a matter for the Minister of Health Surprise surprise when I asked the Minister of Health and he told me to speak to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration How do we expect to deliver the health care our constituents deserve if the people with the skills the training and drive to do So have to jump through unnecessary regulatory hoops and barriers Barriers like proving their proficiency in English when their first and only language is Indeed English. Thank you very much speaker. Thank you Members statements the member from Timmins James Bay. Well, thank you very much mr. Speaker before long We'll be singing solidarity forever over in those benches, but anyways I want to rise today mr. Speaker something that's directed to the Minister of Minister of Housing Imagine the surprise of tenants who are seniors living in Timmins and where it's called the Empire complex at 11 spruce Street When they organize themselves as tenants into a tenant association to do two things Yes, to advocate on behalf of tenants when it comes to issues in their building, but just to get together There's 60% of the people that live in that building that are tenants that are that are seniors And they want to be able to organize themselves so that they can have a tea every now and then Enjoy each other's company have a little bit of opportunity to socialize with other people that live in the building Well, imagine the surprise mr. Speaker when the organizers of the tenants association Gets notice of eviction from the owner a mr. David wall who comes from British Columbia who serves notice of eviction to seniors for trying to organize Essentially a tenant association that both is able to deal with them being able to socialize but to advocate for their rights I'm putting the government on notice because when Natrice one of the people I was evicted called the Ministry of Labor or the Ministry of Housing They said oh, he's within his rights When is it in your right to kick a senior out of a building because they're trying to organize a tenants association? So I served notice to the house and to the spin the minister today. This is something we're gonna have to resolve We're gonna have to resolve it very quickly Mr.. Speaker recently I joined constituents in my community of Etobicoke center in attending the fourth annual islington health and wellness fair Sponsored by the village of islington BIA the islington golf club in the Etobicoke chapter of carp And I want to thank the organizers and sponsors for continuing this annual tradition of reaching out and supporting my constituents in Etobicoke Center At the fair residents of Etobicoke had the opportunity to meet local health professionals in the community and receive expert advice And how to stay healthy and active through all ages of their life mr.. Speaker and it included organizations like the pkd foundation the Canadian Diabetes Association Alzheimer's Toronto the Miss Lyle Halton cc a c Red Cross meals on wheels as Lincoln senior center Dorothy Lee hospice the Etobicoke The Etobicoke lawn bowling club and others and I haven't mentioned them all or too many didn't mention But so many exhibitors offering important advice to my constituents and a community like mine where we have one of the Highest percentage of seniors of any riding in the country this kind of advice this kind of support and how people can stay active and healthy Is so important and the support of carp Etobicoke in particular both in sponsoring events like this one And in the regular work that the local chapter carries out makes a huge difference to our seniors and their families and families Who care for seniors mr. Speaker the Etobicoke chapter is led by chair Gary Hepworth It's incredibly active and takes part in local events and hosting regular meetings where members discuss important issues Canadians face as we age this advocacy continues to make a tangible difference in the lives of my constituents and truly reflects Carps commitment to solidarity between generations in order to build a more inclusive healthy and civil society mr. Speaker I'd like to thank all the sponsors and participants of the event and applaud carp Etobicoke's contributions to this cause and its advocacy on behalf of Seniors in my community of Etobicoke center Mr. Speaker my remarks this afternoon are addressed to the Minister of Health I was Approached a few months ago by a constituent Barbara Selkirk whose mother Marlene Shields has been diagnosed with a stage 4 Glioblastoma brain tumor the two operations removing as much of the tumor as medically possible Marlene had both radiation and chemotherapy these treatments did little to slow the growth of the tumor However for a year she received bi-weekly infusion treatments with a vast in this treatment seemed to work and MRI results showed that her tumor had stabilized The cost of a vast in is up to $12,000 a month the cost of the treatment has been covered by Marlene's husband's Companies health plan, but that comes to an end at the end of this month We know that the cost of a vast in is covered in British Columbia Saskatchewan and Manitoba if Marlene lived in any of these provinces She would be assured her treatment could continue But because she lives in Ontario and the Ministry of Health says the manufacturer has not proven that a vast in works The government will not fund it. I know that the member for Dufferin Caledon has written the minister on behalf of Marlene as well Time is running out We implore the minister to personally review this matter and intervene on a compassionate basis Until the manufacturer can submit additional clinical evidence that a vast in works as a treatment for this kind of cancer Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker Thank you member statements the member from London Fanshawe. Thank you speaker It is my pleasure to share with members of the legislature details of the ninth annual unbound fashion show put on By the fashion design program at Fanshawe College Unbound well known for its cocktail hour catered reception celebrity emcee fashion designer and its new york's New York inspired runway features the final collections of graduating seniors in the fashion design program Held at Museum London. This is a high profile event is juried by renowned Canadian fashion icons David Dixon and Franco Marbelli Amongst other fashion industry leaders through the fashion design program students acquire a three-year cooperative Ontario College Advanced Diploma which prepares them for the ever versatile and rapidly changing fashion industry With this in mind unbound give students the opportunity to let their talent shine and a professional value to display their hard work In fact the top prize winner receives a professional portfolio a photo shoot and a 5,000 valued Subscription to worth global style network speaker. I would like to congratulate the graduating class of 2015 I am very proud of the creativity passion shown in London Fanshawe, and I'm also pleased to share its achievement with all of you here today Thank you Thank you Thank You mr. Speaker I rise today to recognize and thank school crossing guards in my writing of 20 Spadina the city of Toronto and out of Ontario Recently the city of Toronto proclaimed April 15 2015 as school crossing guard appreciation day And I believe it is very important to thank the school crossing guards in my writing for their dedication and commitment to the community Safety. Thank you to the school crossing guards in Tunis, Spadina I know you don't make a lot, but you take your job very seriously as a parent I want to thank you for the important work you do each and every day school crossing guards appreciation They provide us with an opportunity to recognize the significant contribution and the important role school crossing guards play in the safety of our Children their work ensures the safe safe arrival of our children both in schools in the morning and at home Again at night. They play a vital role in our educational system in Ontario I'm extremely proud of all school crossing guards in Tunis, Spadina as the work they do They in and they out insures the safety of our children I stand today inviting all Ontarians to take a second and thank one of your local school crossing guards Thank you Thank you, Mr. Speaker I rise in the house today to celebrate national organ and tissue donor donation awareness a week Anybody who has received an organ donation or knows somebody who has can't express enough how important this initiative is In the past I've been very fortunate to meet with sander holds worth of gravenhurst sander was a recipient of a liver transplant in 1997 and the year since has been a volunteer and tremendous advocate for the be a donor initiative Sandra has also been a competitor at the Canadian American and world transplant games and continues to be a great ambassador for the importance of organ donation and in fact in 2011 sander organized a friendly competition amongst mpp's to see who might sign up the most donors I'm proud to say that the community of Perry sound in my writing is currently the fifth highest ranked community in Ontario With 51% of local residents being registered to be a donor It's also worth note noting that the top five communities in the ranking are all located in northern Ontario I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the dedicated volunteers in Ontario and particularly the Trillium gift of life Never this week. I would ask people to take time to go online to WWW dot be a donor dot CA to verify their organ donor card and sign up to give the gift of life Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker. Thank you Mr. Speaker I rise to tell you about a town hall I recently hosted in Kingston in the islands to raise awareness on mental health Mental illness is so common so varied and the impact is so huge on Society that we focused on stigma and strategies for its reduction The occasion was anchored by six panelists with a wealth of practical and research experience Ruth Wilson spoke about health as a holistic package and sickness resulting from a deficit in any one area Family doctors already have a grasp on a on a person's dynamic Room in my lab discussed self stigma and when one believes the information and resists seeking help Talking to those effective affected is the key to reeducation Michael Kondra presented mental health as a continuum of Minor to major disruptions and he pointed out the vulnerability of youth to risk factors such as bullying Heidi Penning and Ben Gutsch's message was a call to action to employ persons with disabilities in Inclusive environments where employees can feel safe engaged and productive Craig McFarland spoke of Kingston police's understanding of the importance of following up after a crisis to connect individuals With appropriate community resources Lastly Madison Doreling bravely shared her lived experience with bipolar disorder It is my hope that the discussion brought us a little closer to accepting people with mental health conditions by recognizing Negative stereotypes stigma and discrimination. Thank you. Merci. Meegwetch. Thank you Thank you very much speaker I rise today as a member of the legislative assembly of Ontario and on behalf of my constituents of Glen Gary Prescott Russell to Congratulate and to recognize Taylor young a constituent in my riding who was awarded an Ontario medal for young volunteers this past Monday Established in 1998 the Ontario medal for young volunteers honors youth between the ages of 15 and 24 Who have given a large amount of their time to charitable or not-for-profit organizations or initiatives and who have inspired others? Other young people to volunteer the medals were presented by the lieutenant governor of Ontario Taylor young of Dalkey is a gifted piper and fiddler for almost five years He's been a member of the Glen Gary pipe band a community-based not non-for-profit Ensemble volunteering his musical talents at many local community events He has made significant contributions to the Celtic community in Glen Gary County actively encouraging other young people to embrace and promote local Celtic traditions and culture I'm extremely proud of Taylor for being awarded this important distinction in recognition of his Significant contribution and dedication to volunteer service. He is truly an exceptional young Ontarian again Congratulations Taylor. Thank you speaker Thank you. I'd like to thank all members for their statements. It's now time for reports by committees