Delivering “reach and range” so that our community can be empowered and enthused
LETTER FROM OUR EDITOR
It gives me immense pleasure to edit this Summer edition of our Lamwyk Journal. This would not have been possible without the support of our brilliant Lamwyk team. This edition explores everything from how peerto-peer lending is changing finance forever, to innovating the UN Security Council and the future of hydropower. We are also delighted to welcome two highly distinguished and widely published guest columnists: Mark Somers and Marina Abel Smith.
Lamwyk began as a series of illuminating roundtable think-tank sessions convening leaders in business, civic and scientific spaces Our members enjoyed intriguing discussions where these experts offered solutions to some of the most daunting challenges facing us all The reinvigorated Lamwyk Journal continues in that vein
If you enjoy delving into new areas and exploring the points at which science, business, politics and innovation intersect, then you’ll find an interesting article within these pages. I sincerely wish to thank the 90,000 of you who subscribe to our Journal landing in your inbox every quarter. Your enthusiasm encourages us to research an ever greater range of topics for each edition. This Summer edition also raises awareness of The Clink charity’s vital work in helping prisoners into meaningful, long-term careers upon their release from custody.
Talented people drive businesses forward, wherever they come from and even if they’ve made terrible mistakes earlier in life.
All that’s left is for me to wish you all a wonderful Summer I sincerely hope that Q3 of 2025 brings you only good things
TomO’Brien
EDITOR
Curious minds will always find a happy home here.
P2P LENDING: A NEW APPROACH TO BUSINESS FINANCE
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘loan’. Many older people might recall less than fascinating moments stuck in a bank queue. For younger people, a ‘loan’ might fall under the many things they’ve applied for online or through an app. Either way, this form of finance is usually only provided to businesses by banks or other financial institutions
Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending flips this traditional model of business loans on its head This new iteration of credit uses online platforms to invite members of the public to contribute to loans and even investments
Entrepreneurs can often find that banks say no to applications because those loans would carry unacceptable levels of risk. Alternatively, a bank may only offer a loan alongside expensive servicing costs.
Alternatively, a bank may only offer a loan alongside expensive servicing costs.
P2P lending allows entrepreneurs to tell their stories and connect with the public.
Many people contributing modest amounts can help businesses to hit funding targets just as well as big packages obtained from banks at commercial rates Sometimes, a story that wouldn’t resonate with certain demographics elicits hugely passionate sentiments in others
That’s really the area where P2P lending can be most impactful For example, a project seeking innovative treatments for very niche health conditions may encounter difficulty securing traditional finance.
What if the project fails to deliver any safe treatments after a decade of research? What if the group of patients helped is too small to achieve significant profits? These questions and many more could deny the project a bank loan. However, that project could produce lifechanging benefits for affected patients and their families Those people may therefore be prepared to club together and raise the money to support a funding target in the way that traditional banks simply wouldn’t
P2P lending is also revolutionising charitable giving. Giving to charities internationally was once a case of donating with the understanding that you were helping others, but without much ability to see exactly how your contribution had changed individual lives. Thanks to P2P loans, you can now chip in to support everything from agricultural projects to local shops and craftsmanship in some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities. Contributions are pooled to fund loans for a whole variety of viable projects fully
When those loans are repaid, your money can then go to help another similar project. One single donation can help multiple entrepreneurs and their families to change not just their own lives, but also to provide their communities with crucial and valuable services.
While not suitable for everything, P2P lending is proving a valuable way to counter lending bias and ensure that projects with huge potential receive the support and funding they deserve
ELASTOCALORICS: THE COOLEST METALS EVER
From research into cutting-edge quantum computers to the fridges in our kitchens, society has a problem: cooling consumes enormous quantities of energy and often requires the use of environmentally harmful gases
Scientists are making immense progress in reducing these environmental harms through elastocaloric materials. Also known as Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs), these materials can release heat (cooling down) when they are stretched and then absorb it (warming up) when compressed. When all pressures are removed, they relax back into their original ‘remembered’ state. By using heat more efficiently, SMAs could potentially lead us into a new era of industrial refrigeration, quantum computing, sustainable cooling, heating and even driving with significantly less damaging environmental impacts
Quantum computers can only perform at their best when cold (up to -273 14°C) to be precise Any warmth disrupts the qubits at the heart of these systems, preventing them from passing along the information needed for these computers to solve problems outside the scope of modern supercomputers. SMAs could help them to maintain these temperatures while using less energy, allowing researchers to solve hugely knotty issues around chemistry, biochemistry, geography and maths while having a much more beneficial impact on the environment
Innovative, disruptive cooling and heating technology based on solidstate advanced materials
Meanwhile, cars that could absorb and convert waste heat from exhaust fumes into electricity to power everything from cars’ entertainment centres and sat-nav systems to charging batteries are no longer props in science-fiction films SMAs’ abilities to cool as they change shape facilitate the capture of this waste heat and its conversion into electricity
As the world’s climate continues to change, using resources sparingly and with consideration for other communities around the world becomes more important than ever before. SMAs could open the door to a future of remarkable energy efficiency.
HAS THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL VETOED INNOVATION?
On 17th January 1946, the UN Security Council (UNSC) held its first meeting in London. So much about the world has changed since that day. By contrast, the UNSC has remained largely the same The expansion to 10 of a rotating cast of non-permanent members doesn’t change the fact that those same five members who met on that day at Church House in Westminster still remain the UNSC’s only permanent members The United States, The United Kingdom, France, The Russian Federation and The People’s Republic of China (since 1971) also hold a veto, allowing them to block any resolution voted on by the Council immediately.
As a result, the UNSC can often find itself paralysed and unable to effectively promote global security, because one of those permanent members (P5) will exercise their veto power (or threaten to) in order to shut down discussions. Russia has used its veto to block draft resolutions condemning its illegal invasion of Ukraine (a case study in marking your own homework). Meanwhile, the US has used its veto power to staunchly support Israel, despite increasingly dire and consecutive humanitarian crises suffered across Gaza
The result is that while much time and energy is dedicated to debates and speeches, the UNSC can often convene without achieving very much at all.
Moreover, this veto power also makes expanding the P5 near impossible So many countries would make excellent additions to this group Brazil, Japan, Germany, India, Morocco and Kenya are just a few of the countries which could make compelling bids for Permanent Membership of the UNSC Any expansion of Permanent Membership would surely widen the range of voices at the UN’s top table, better representing the world as it is now rather than as it was as the 1950s approached.
As factors such as climate change present new global security challenges and exacerbate historic ones, an expanded P5 would promote effective, regionally-developed solutions to these challenges. The result could very well be more productive strategic partnerships between newer and existing members. Current UNSC veto powers seem to, ultimately, veto innovation
Mark Somers Guest Columnist
UP CLOSE WITH FAMILY OFFICES
Family Offices can often be difficult entities to understand; sometimes this can be a deliberate strategy to avoid being pestered with unsolicited offers and sometimes it is because they exist to serve the family they were created by and they have no need of a public persona. Whether it is by accident or design, for all of us in the family office ecosystem, from time to time there is a need to understand them quickly and accurately. We have identified six different forms of family office and they are very different from one another.
We all are governed to an extent by our Values and this is the same for families and their family offices – this is the best place to start the conversation, whether it is with a family member or one of the family office employees Ask how their values manifest themselves; how does the family allocate their time, their treasure and their talents? A good icebreaker can be to ask why the family office is so named – sometimes you can elicit some surprisingly illuminating answers!
Then probe the office’s Purpose – what is its true raison d’être? Next, the Proposition – what does it actually do and for whom and why Finally ask about the People, who works there and what do they do?
Taking note of these answers will position you for a successful discussion with them helping your future discussions to be filtered through insight and understanding.
Award winning family office thought leader, recruiter and human capital consultant
EXPLORING HYDROPOWER
Hydropower is an exciting form of renewable energy with the potential to significantly reduce energy bills However, this hydro innovation is not without controversy It’s important to note that if political tensions in one part of the world make a renewable energy source contested, that by no means renders this power supply ineffective or useless. This difference simply represents politics limiting innovation.
Hydropower works by using a dam or other diversion structure to force water to flow downstream and into a turbine at high velocity. This movement then generates kinetic energy which spins the turbine’s blades and generates electricity. So far, so efficient. However, large-scale dams in one country can carry risks to neighbouring states whose water supplies depend on the downstream water flows that the dams divert
These risks can quickly develop into severe diplomatic tensions as countries rush to protect their own interests Sadly, internationally brokered talks can only do so much to assuage these differences If your population’s main source of potable water is under threat, then it
becomes very difficult not to view the project threatening that supply as a major national security risk and challenge the project vigorously at every opportunity. This dispute is playing out in real-time in East Africa as Ethiopia’s potential for economic growth through hydropower collides with Egypt and Sudan’s dependency on the Blue Nile for their water supplies.
However, those sceptical of renewable energy should not dismiss hydropower based on disputes which are about far more than just water. Over on the east coast of the US, the state of Washington generates 60% of its energy from hydropower according to the US Department of Energy
Both emerging and existing technologies can help communities who depended on fossil fuel-derived energy sources for generations to enjoy all the benefits of renewable energy However, political leaders need to be courageous enough to navigate red lines and prioritise innovation and collaboration over narrow national interests. That is much easier said than done.
HOW CAN CREATORS PROTECT COPYRIGHT IN THE ERA OF AI?
The future really is now Over recent months, you might have come across AI as an exciting tool for designing an action figure of yourself or for powering the most accurate search engine you’ve ever used Despite its many entertaining aspects, AI carries huge risks for those making a living in the entertainment industry and creatives more broadly. This technology makes it possible to copy creative works (in whole or in part) quickly and at scale for only a minimal cost. As a result, creators, writers, artists and producers risk seeing others profit from their work without seeing a penny themselves.
Creative works often form part of training data that is used to build the Generative AI systems which can create content tailored to user prompts
For example, if a user asks an AI chatbot to create an image of a sunset for them, there’s no guarantee that the image created wouldn’t include all or part of a copyrighted image. After all, these systems can only learn from information and content which is already published. This method of search functions differently from the search engines which became hugely popular in the late 2000s, because users are not asking the search engine to browse a vast library of content and pick out relevant information.
Instead, users are asking the search engine to create content for them based on the information that it has collected over an extended period
Therefore, rather than finding copyrighted content which can then be purchased (like displaying links for
buying a book online in searches), users and search engines are collaborating on projects that use copyrighted content without even consulting the creator Imagine if you were an artist and someone waltzed into your studio and started siphoning off bits of your work to create their own piece. You wouldn’t be impressed. AI is essentially enabling people to do exactly that.
In the UK, the government is considering protecting creators through prospective legislation which would allow them to ‘opt out’ of AI training programmes using their content. However, this only addresses part of the issue. Of course, AI companies should not be able to use content without creators’ permission
But what happens when creators do give this consent? They should be paid royalties, just as they would if their song were played on the radio (or streamed online); or if their photos were used in newspapers or magazines; or if someone bought a copy of their book
The UK’s creative industries represent 5% of the country's economic output. If these industries are not protected by an effective adaptation of existing laws around publication of and compensation for creative works to fit an AI-driven environment, then that economic value will diminish rapidly. Moreover, AI-generated work should be labelled as such, so that consumers can choose to support the authors, artists, musicians, photographers, actors, and other creators who give them so much joy
Marina Abel Smith Guest Columnist
LONG, GERMAN AND… SNOOZEFEST?
When you hear the words ‘Wagner opera’, what springs to mind? There’s a high chance similar words to the title of this piece
Having been lucky to have the chance to immerse myself in the Ring Cycle and sundry other Wagner operas during my music degree, I have a life-long passion for listening to multiple hours of his storytelling. So, for my inaugural piece in the Lamwyk Journal, I am reviewing the new production of Die Walküre at the Royal Ballet & Opera (formerly the Royal Opera House or as many people call it, Covent Garden).
I find it heartening that in today’s culture of chronic underfunding for the arts and huge cuts in music education, there is still resource enough to stage a performance of this work which lasts well over four hours, requires a 120-piece orchestra and a cast of highly skilled and rare operatic voices For this reason alone, whenever the opportunity to buy a ticket arises, I’m first in the queue
My attempt to summarise the plot is as follows: Siegmund and Sieglinde are twins, reunited at the start of the opera during a stormy night in the forest Sieglinde is married to Hunding who challenges Siegmund to a fight at the end of Act 1 Meanwhile, Wotan (ruler of the gods), tells his daughter Brünnhilde that Siegmund must die in the fight with Hunding. Brünnhilde defies her father though, and tries to help Siegmund in his fight. Wotan intervenes, Siegmund is killed and the opera finishes with Wotan punishing Brünnhilde by sending her to sleep at the centre of a circle of fire.
Marina Abel Smith is the Head of Development at The Skinners Company Formally of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
It goes without saying that there is much more nuance to the plot and backstory but at least you get the gist. The other thing you need to know is that Brünnhilde is a Valkyrie – in German Die Walküre. In Norse mythology, a Valkyrie is a female figure who guides the souls of the dead to Valhalla. At the start of Act III, we hear the Ride of the Valkyries, arguably the most thrilling piece of music ever written and to hear it live, played by the orchestra of the Royal Opera, is a life enhancing experience to say the least
This is the third production of Die Walküre I’ve had the opportunity to watch and I’m happy to report that it very much delivered on what an evening with Wotan and his gang should be British-Ukrainian soprano Natalya Romaniw was spellbinding in her role-debut as Sieglinde, soaring over the mighty orchestra with ease and grace We were told before curtain up that French tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac was suffering with an allergy but you wouldn’t have known.
It is always a privilege to hear Christopher Maltman, and his performance made me laugh, feel a good deal of rage at his treatment of women, and poignant sadness as he sent his beloved daughter into a deep sleep. Marina Prudenskaya’s Fricka had me chortling as she strode around the stage at her wit’s end with her roving husband and hearing Elisabet Strid’s Brünnhilde was a joy
The stage presentation of Wotan’s ring of fire at the end of any production of Die Walküre is always the big question for any audience member I’m happy to confirm that director Barrie Kosky didn’t disappoint, and as the tree lit up in flames to the mesmerising ‘fire music’, I had to pinch myself that I was hearing it live for the third time in my life.
Music Director Antonio Pappano brought the whole orchestra onto the stage for well-deserved applause at the curtain call. The opera would be nothing without them and the audience made sure to share their appreciation given the opportunity.
Die Walküre is without doubt long and German but walking away from the opera house on Thursday evening, I concluded to myself that it is in no way a snoozefest With that amount of fire and drama, I don’t see how it could be
TRANSFORMING CRIME INTO HAUTE CUISINE
As sumptuous mozzarella oozed out his delicious black pudding, Lamwyk’s publisher, Ed Goodchild, knew he was about to enjoy an outstanding meal But he wasn’t in the Ritz, nor The Fat Duck or The Ledbury Ed and his very kind host, financial journalist Anna Dumas, enjoyed an outstanding lunch at The Clink, a truly groundbreaking restaurant in HMP Brixton.
Founded by The Clink Charity, this restaurant is fully staffed by Brixton prison’s inmates. Offenders can gain City and Guilds NVQ qualifications in Food & Beverage Service, Professional Cookery and Food Hygiene. From there, they can leave prison with the training, confidence and skills to build long-term careers in the hospitality sector.
As restaurants, bars and cafés across the UK continue to recover from the immense pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, highly motivated and talented professionals will be more essential than ever to their growth It shouldn’t matter if those individuals have spent some time behind bars if they are willing to turn away from crime and build better lives for themselves and their families through their skills and hard work.
The Clink Charity is pivotal to helping these people realise their true potential and become the successful pastry chefs, sous chefs, chefs and front of house superstars that they deserve to be. HMP Brixton’s restaurant has enjoyed so much success that a retail bakery on site has followed. Ed’s meal was in 2015 and he still remembers the experience warmly to this day
Since 2015, The Clink has continued to expand nationally as well, with culinary gardens in HMP High Down and HMP Send.
Society shouldn’t write someone off because they made an awful decision that left them staring at a prison wall Everyone deserves a second chance If you run a venue that hosts events or serves food, please reach out to The Clink Charity to find your next hire. You never know what someone can achieve until you give them the opportunity to prove themselves.
If you don’t run a business or you aren’t looking to employ anyone, but you just love great food, do give The Clink restaurants in HMP Brixton or HMP Styal a look
Learn more at: www theclinkcharity org
LAMWYK
The views expressed in this document are not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any investment or financial instrument. Information contained within this document has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable but have not been independently verified; no representation is made for accuracy or completeness, no reliance should be placed on it and no liability is accepted for any loss arising from reliance on it.
Readers are advised that Lamwyk & Co Ltd has accepted articles and advertisements for publication in good faith but should be advised that Lamwyk & Co Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for views expressed nor the advertisements published Lamwyk & Co Ltd reserves the right to withdraw any article or any advertisement at any time The views expressed are not necessarily those of Lamwyk & Co Ltd
Principal place of business: Quantum House, 22-24 Red Lion Court, London EC4A 3EB
Registered number: 08039221
Front Cover Editorial credit: Moremar / Shutterstock
