Things people have said..

 

From the early 80s I used to have lunch at the City University Club, 50 Cornhill. At the time, the Club had a reciprocal arrangement with the Travellers Club, 106 Pall Mall. One of the Travellers members dining under the reciprocal arrangement was Dr David Hay. We were sitting opposite each other at the Club Table. He asked me a number of questions – perhaps because I was the only non-European at the Club Table, and this made him curious. When he got up to go, he said “your father worked for my father”. It turned out the David’s father was Andrew Mackenzie Hay, managing director of J H Vavasseur. My father had been a director of its subsidiary, Vavasseur Trading Company, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

Another member of the Travellers Club who sat opposite me at lunch said he had been a soldier who fought in World War II. He said he had been based in Ceylon. He too asked me several questions about my family. When he got up to leave, he said “Your grandfather arranged for Mountbatten’s headquarters to be set-up in Kandy and for a crate of wine to be delivered monthly from Colombo to Kandy.”  

Earlier, when I asked about joining the City University Club, the Committee Member dealing with new applicants, David Crockford, spoke with me. He seemed somewhat cautious as I was non-European and the Club did not have any non-European members. He said ‘I understand you are from Ceylon. When I was at Sandhurst there was a Ceylonese who trained there – Tony Anghie. I replied that Tony had been junior to my father at school and I had met him. There were no further questions, and I became a member.

I attended a meeting related to South Asian Concern organised by Ram Gidoomal. One attendee was a lady called Ruth Bradby. I mentioned to her that the secondary school I attended, Royal College, Colombo had a principal called E L Bradby and that there was and annual rugby match between Royal and Trinity College, Kandy for a trophy called the Brady Shield. Ruth said “He was my grandfather”.

I follow journalist Ali Fortescue on Twitter. I communicated with her to explain that the Hon Seymour Fortescue and I had worked in Barclays and that we had met later at an FSA Annual Meeting and had lunch a few days later. Also that he now lived in Italy. She replied via twitter “He is my father”.

I was walking past the house behind ours. The people who had lived there over forty years  (David and Pauline Fellows) had sold and moved to the seaside. One of the new occupants was in front of the house. I stopped and spoke to her. She said that in addition to her family her mother Aurelia was staying with her. I was surprised – my (now late) mother’s first names included Aurelia. Later I met Aurelia again at a coffee morning.

When I finished at Cambridge I worked in menswear at Joshua Taylors, a local department store during the summer of 1973 prior to going to Imperial College, London to do an MSc. Whilst working at the store when I was selling a pair of trousers the customer asked me about my origins and said ‘we have one of our homes in Ceylon’. It was Group Captain Leonard Cheshire from the 617 Squadron (the Dam Busters) and he was referring to a Cheshire Home. One of the other students working in the store was Anthony MacWhirter. Years later I met him when he was working for Debevoise and Plimpton and I was providing some technical assistance to the firm. When we had lunch, It turned out that his father had captained boxing at Cambridge when my father’s friend Chris de Saram was captain of Oxford University boxing.

A few years ago, at a Leander Club lunch I heard the name Pilgrim–Morris. I went round to speak to the gentlemen and said that I had come across a John Pilgrim-Morris in 1969 in Colombo when he was rowing for the RAF Singapore and pulled his boat in. He said somewhat sternly ‘You never got in touch with me after you came to the UK’. It was the same man!

Memories of Downing College Cambridge

 

My memories of Downing College Cambridge

Having attended various College Reunions and Garden Parties at Downing, I thought I’d write down my recollections of Downing.

I first heard about Downing when I lived in Sri Lanka. I heard about Downing from Percy Colin Thome – former Attorney General, Sri Lanka. He had been an undergraduate there.

As did many of my classmates in Royal College, Colombo, I wanted to read engineering at university.  At my classmate Ranil Senaratne’s suggestion, I decided to apply to Cambridge. So my parents spoke to ‘Uncle Percy’. He wrote to Professor Clive Parry who acquainted us with the application process.

I filled in the UCCA forms and, I seem to recall an additional set of forms for Downing / Cambridge. I then sat the Cambridge Entrance paper in the Royal College Vice Principal, Mr Dias’ office. Somewhat surprisingly in both the Physics paper and in the Physics for Engineering paper, there were questions on the Doppler effect. These were outside the Sri Lankan and London ‘A’ level syllabuses. But my Physics tuition master, Mr George Ondaatje, after he had completed the syllabuses with me had given me questions to do on a number of advanced topics – perhaps because he thought I should continue studying rather than stop. So it wasn’t difficult to answer these questions.

I was delighted to find that I had passed the exam but needed to take the Sri Lankan ‘O’ level English ‘A’ paper to satisfy the University that my knowledge of English was sufficient and also get a Credit in the Sinhalese ‘O’ level paper to ensure that I knew a foreign language.

I enrolled for the exams which were to be held in December. I then learned that I had been selected to row and also scull for the Colombo Rowing Club in the ARAE (Amateur Rowing Association of the East) Regatta in Calcutta which was taking place at the same time. I decided to row rather than take the exams.

When we returned to Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then known) after the Regatta, we found that the ‘O’ Level papers had been leaked and the exams were being held again. So I took them and passed and was admitted to Downing.

As, at the time I was unwell from time to time with an allergy, my mother accompanied me to Cambridge. My mother and I arrived in London in September 1970 and stayed in Russell Square at the Russell Hotel. Then came to Cambridge and stayed at the Gonville Hotel first and then moved in to the (cheaper) Glengarry Hotel (now Hotel Regent).  I moved in to the College – Kenny Court A12, before full term started. My mother then rented a house in Park Terrace.

Whilst walking in the Court I met James Mynors from the Christian Union – also reading engineering at Peterhouse – he later read Theology. He was from the Christian Union (CICCU) welcoming overseas students.

Robin Rudd and Colin Roer were on the same floor in Kenny A. As was Fellow John Pendry.

Having become a believing Christian earlier that year, I was privileged to join the Downing College Christian Union and meet Roger Fay, Chris Reed and Simon Huggill. The Christian Union had a weekly Bible Study in my room.

I joined the Boat Club and was fortunate to row in the light four together with Angus (Bob) Wilson, Mike Starkey and Julian Childs.

I read Engineering – but at the time was able to take papers in sociology of organisations in my final year. Also I was fortunate to learn – as part of the course – the history of trades unions.

The professor of Ancient Philosophy Keith Guthrie (William Keith Chambers Guthrie) was Master. He and his wife joined my mother and myself for lunch at her home at 6 Park Terrace. As did Professor Parry and his wife.

I was fortunate to row in the first Lent and May boats – also in the Henley Royal Regatta. Whilst trialling I got to know Alf Twinn – the University Boatman and Mark Ashton – later vicar of the Round Church.  Downing Boatmen in my time were Bob Biffen and Doug Larkin. John Gifford was the Emmanuel boatman.

After I left Downing I went to Imperial College and completed a one year MSc and then started working in London. After a time, I moved back to Cambridge and moved in with my mother.

I coached the third and then second Boats and am delighted to have two bow shields. Also, in 1982, as their coach wasn’t available, I coached, for a week, the 1982 May Boat that went Head and attended the boat burning.

I recall coaching Gavin Williams (stroke) and Clare Strowlger (cox). In the 1980s. In 2016 I met Gavin (now a master at Westminster School) at Henley. He had married Clare.

Also, I coached Fred Robinson (now a partner at Killik & Co) and Clive Anderson and several others.

As I was coaching Downing, I was given Dining rights when I was coaching. I was privileged to sit next to the master Sir John Butterfield and his mother. She told me about both her sons. When Lord Butterfield was unwell and dying – I went to see him in hospital.

My contemporary David Lloyd Jones, by now a fellow, used to travel to London as did I. I remember him bringing his wife Anne-Marie and his baby son Patrick round to Coleridge Road where my mother and I lived.

My late mother lived in Cambridge and commuted to London to work. Later she moved closer to us, but we kept the house in Coleridge Road until 2017.

From time to time my wife and I and our two sons used to stay in Coleridge Road and, if we were there on a Sunday, we attended College Chapel. During one of our many stays in Cambridge, I showed them the Engineering Department.

I attended various re-unions and dinners and, later, donor’s garden parties together with my wife and sons (when they became old enough).

My elder son, Johann, applied to Downing. He was unsuccessful in his application despite having 99, 98, 96 and 93 per cent in his ‘A’ Levels.

He took a gap year and applied to Queen’s College, Oxford from where he graduated after completing a master’s degree in materials science. He is currently researching for a PhD in materials engineering.

He has played hockey for Oxford University 1^st team for five years - two years as captain. In his first  year as captain Oxford drew against Cambridge in his second as captain year Oxford won.

My younger son, Christopher, read geography at St Catherine’s College Oxford and has just started work at British International Investments.

Its a Small World

My most recent ‘small world’ experiences took place in 2019. I was at the Leander Club ‘Lensday Lunch’ at Henley-on-Thames. At the lunch I met John Pilgrim-Morris. I had met him in 1969 at the Colombo Rowing Club when he was rowing for the Royal Air Force team from Singapore. Also, I met, at the Financial Services Expo, Beth Cazalet, whose husband’s uncle, Julian Cazalet, I had met in the 1990s when he was Chairman at the City University Club.  

A few years ago, at the Leander Club, I discovered that the Club Manager had rowed in the Henley Royal Regatta as a schoolboy when I was rowing in the Regatta for Downing College, Cambridge in the Ladies Plate.

My late father Jayantha ‘Jumbo’ Perera, used to box. One of his fellow boxers, Chris De Saram, captained the Oxford University boxing team.  When I was a boy, my father used to speak to me about his various boxing matches. He told me about his opponents including Vernon Dickman. Over thirty years later I married Vernon’s daughter Romie.

I got married at St Margaret Lothbury in the City of London. When speaking to the vicar, Tom Farrell, about the arrangements, I found out that he had been a hurdler. I mentioned that Duncan White who had been a silver medallist in the 1948 Olympics hurdles was known to my father and father-in-law. Tom said, ‘I knew him well – he trained with the British Team’. I had met Duncan at the Ceylon University Grounds where my father took me to practice long jump. One day when I was at the grounds, my father saw Duncan and introduced me to him.

But perhaps the most ‘small world’ experiences I have had have taken place at the City University Club – a lunch Club in l that I went to in Cornhill from the mid-1980s until 2018 when it moved to Crutched Friars – where I still go from time to time. I have noted already, meeting Beth Cazalet, whose husband’s uncle is former Chairman, Julian Cazalet.

I first came to the Club under a reciprocal arrangement with the Oxford and Cambridge Club. As I was using the Club regularly, I decided to join. The member who spoke to me about membership and finding a seconder and the necessary six supporters, was David Crockford. He had been at Sandhurst with Tony Anghie who had been at the same school as my father at the same time. I had met Tony when I was a boy. Years later I met Tony when my father-in-law was entertaining some friends.

I read Engineering at Downing College, Cambridge. After I graduated, before going on to Imperial College, London for further studies, I worked in the Cambridge department store Joshua Taylor’s. Another person working in the store, who was going up to Downing later that year, was Anthony McWhirter. Years later, I provided some technical assistance on financial regulation to Debevoise and Plimpton, the firm of fellow Club member and Club Table diner Jeremy Hill. I met Anthony again as he was working for Debevoise. We had lunch at the Club and I gathered that his father had boxed for Cambridge when my father’s classmate and boxing friend Chris de Saram was boxing for Oxford.

Also whilst working at Joshua Taylors, I sold a pair of trousers to Group Captain Leonard Cheshire. I knew of him as I had seen the film ‘The Dam Busters’, read the book, and had studied the work of the Cheshire Homes. When I was a non-executive director of Syndicate Asset Management plc, a relative of his (nephew I think), was the Chief Executive – Mark Cheshire.

At the Club Table at the City University Club, I got to know Peter Battle who worked in the Lloyds Insurance Market. We had spoken with each other for may years. In 2012 when I mentioned that I was coaching Downing Boat Club, he noted that he had rowed against Downing when he was at Bedford School. I recalled that I was in the Downing Crew that Bedford School had rowed against that year.

Also at the Club Table, I spoke with a reciprocal member from the Travellers Club – Dr David Hay. He asked me a lot of questions about myself. When he got up to leave, he said ‘Your father worked for my father’. His father had been Ewan Mackenzie Hay – Managing Director of Vavasseur Trading Company.

Another Travellers Club reciprocal member also asked me about my ancestry. He then told me that my grandfather, T D Perera CMG had arranged for Lord Mountbatten’s headquarters to be set up in Kandy, Ceylon, during the war and for a crate of wine for Lord Mountbatten’s to be delivered regularly by train from Colombo to Kandy.

When I worked for Price Waterhouse Management Consultants, I came to know that the Price Waterhouse Senior Partner, Sir Jeffery Bowman's forbears had resided in Baddegama, Ceylon (where I grew up). When doing some consulting work for Charterhouse Bank, I came across his brother John who was a senior executive there. Years later I met John's son Charles, who had been Mayor of the City of London.

When I worked in Citibank, Securities Services (my focus was Global Custody) a colleague, who later went to work for Citibank at 1 Wall Street was Antony P Jenkins. Later he became CEO of Barclays Bank. Steve Barclay, the Brexit Secretary reported to me when I worked in the FSA.

Christmas Reflections

Whilst Christmas is considered a Christian festival, it is thought to have been a festival (Yule) to celebrate the winter solstice. But later this became ‘Christianised’.

Most of the readings at Christmas are from the ‘Old Testament’ - Torah and the Nebiim. Some passages that are not widely read interest me particularly.

The first is Genesis God putting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden:

"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."

He forbade Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. Genesis 2:

¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

¹⁷ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

At the instigation of the Serpent, Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge. God rebuked Adam. When rebuking the Serpent, He said:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

It could be argued that the use of the phrase ‘her seed’ looks forward to Jesus who did not have an earthly father, so all the genetic information would have come from Mary. Hence her seed bruising the Serpents head.

One of Jesus’ Jewish companions, John writes: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And in documenting the revelation he believes God gave him, John refers to Jesus as saying of Himself:  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Also, Revelation 3:11 - I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.

Outsourced Britain

Outsourcing has many advantages. Economies of scale perhaps as the outsourcer provides similar services to a variety of similar customers. The latter could include central or local state institutions. Also the need for capital investment required were the services to be provided in-house would be borne by the outsourcer.

Companies providing outsourced services would argue that they take on a variety of hidden costs – recruitment, insurance and capital investment to provide outsourced services at a competitive price.

A question that some believe is not asked often enough is whether the outsourced service really is necessary. Clearly the barriers to setting up and running a service in-house are considerable. One of the benefits of outsourcing is that this lead time / initial investment in expertise as well as capital investment is not there. But it can also lead to buying an outsourced service on the basis of ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’. Also there is the temptation for the person commissioning the outsourcing, to succumb to pressure / inducements.

Whilst I may be mistaken, I feel often that much of the work I come across may not have been absolutely essential; some examples are below[1].

Between 2007 and 2010 I noticed that the pavement on Shaftsbury Avenue was changed three times. From the tar surface to large square paving stones; then to small bricks.  The final change was changing the straight edge of the pavement into curves. What were the benefits of these changes in quick succession? Were they really necessary?

At my local Network Rail station, I’ve noticed many changes. I wonder whether all of them were necessary. For example ticket machines were installed in the centre of the ticket area. In a few years, these were then removed and moved a few feet to other locations in the ticket area. Now they are installed against the walls. For over thirty years passengers went between platforms via ramps which lead, at one end of the platform, to a tunnel and at the other end to a walk-way which lead to the ticket gates and the ticket area. These tunnels were closed and replaced by a bridge which had steps and lifts. Also the ticket barriers were moved a few inches nearer to the ticket area – requiring a considerable amount of work. In addition short pillars (supporting nothing)  have been put on the walkway facing the car park Were these changes really necessary?

Staying with Network Rail, at other stations I see sometimes contractors in high-visibility jackets in groups of three or four not doing anything actually. Perhaps I am missing something?

An aspect of outsourcing that may not be widely appreciated is its consequences for migration. Many staff members of outsourcing companies may be willing to work for low wages because once five years have elapsed, one can apply for permanent residence in the UK.

Moving some outsourced activities into the state can have beneficial effects: continuity, local employment, retention of expertise and intellectual capital.

But outsourcing can be right in many situations – for example when smaller companies or state enterprises wish to benefit from wider expertise and economies of scale and scope that the service provider brings. For these benefits to be realised, it must be managed properly.

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[1] Other examples: Leadenhall Street – repeated resurfacing between 2011 and 2014; Croydon - Streetlights: silver lampposts replaced by black lampposts. Then some silver lampposts restored again.  But finally black lampposts working.

Reflections on Brexit

Reasons the British Public voted for Brexit include: the UK’s contributions to the EU; regulation that British businesses have to comply with; and most importantly, the influx of migrants.

The British Public, understandably, react unfavourably to: hearing languages other than English being spoken widely; foreign styles of dress, e.g. headscarves and burkas; and behaviour not aligned with British cultural norms.

But, much of the migration that evokes unfavourable reaction, originates from sources other than the EU. ‘Outsourcing’, which has increased greatly, partly as a result of privatisation of formerly state-owned industries, is an important source of immigration.

Outsourcing companies can offer competitive pricing on the basis of employees on low pay recruited from India, Pakistan, and African countries. Such employees are allowed visas almost as a matter of course. These employees are prepared to work on very low pay for five years because at the end of the five-year period, they can apply for ‘Permanent Residence’. After they receive permanent residence, they leave their low paying employers (who provide the outsourced service) and get a job at normal pay. The outsourcing companies then replace them with further low paid employees.

Outsourcing of visa application handling in British Embassies and High Commissions overseas is another source migration. There are stories that, whilst applications directly via the High Commission / Embassy, who sends the documents to an outsourcing company (sometimes in a different country) can result in a long delay and possibly refusal, going via a travel agent and paying say 10 to 20 times the standard fee, results in visas (and it is said even British Passports) being issued rapidly. The explanation for this is thought to be that the travel agent offers inducements to the visa application outsourcing company which results in their ignoring normal procedures / checks. Moreover, where the visa application goes directly to the outsourcing company, the company tends to be overly punctilious and delays responding (in the hope that applicants will go via a travel agent who will offer inducements).

An important benefit of being in the EU is that financial firms located in the UK can ‘passport’ i.e. offer their services in the EU without the need for regulatory authorisation (which can be a costly and lengthy process) in those countries. Will this survive Brexit? Moreover, by being in the EU we can influence regulation to take account of the different structure and wider range and scope of financial services in the UK. Hitherto this has encouraged overseas financial firms wishing to trade in Europe, to locate in London to take advantage of: the trained workforce: presence of the world’s leading banks, investment firms and insurance companies; and the infrastructure that provides a full range of services and facilitates financial innovation; and then passport into other EU countries.

To ensure that as many of the benefits remain, perhaps we should make some technical advisors available to the European Commission, so that proposals reaching the Parliament / officials will take account of the UK’s needs including the of nature businesses such as financial services. When I was an advisor to the European Commission, I was able to explain the practical aspects of the greater range and scope of financial services in the UK and ensure that Directives took account of this. Subsequent lack of engagement has resulted in EU regulation such as CoREP which requires even three-man proprietary trading firms to fill in the same 27 spreadsheets worth of data (about 25000 items) that the major banks have to and send the returns to the European Banking Authority.

Ideally though, have a second, fully informed vote and continue as a member of the EU.

The City of London - after Brexit

City of London - Post Brexit

At present the City of London is the world's leading financial centre. Its origins date back to the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43 and the settlement of Londinium. The Roman historian Tacitus described London as 'a town of the highest repute and busy emporium for trade and traders'. 

London's development in the Middle Ages as a port resulted in it becoming populated by merchants who became increasingly wealthy. The merchants used their wealth to provide finance. Following the advent of the joint stock company in the 17th Century, the City became a burgeoning financial financial and commodity market place. Names of City streets such as Bread Street, Milk Street and Fish Street indicate the nature of the markets in those areas. The markets today trade commodities, shares, bonds, derivatives on exchanges (usually electronically) as well as a very large range of instruments over the counter. 

Some reasons for the continuing success of the City are:

location between the Far Eastern and American time zones

highly developed infrastructure 

pool of skills 

the ability to adapt and innovate

trading culture

Banks, insurance companies, brokers, market makers and dealers in financial instruments choose to locate in London becuse of the above reasons on the one hand and because, under current EU rules, having located in the UK, they can 'Passport' i.e. offer services in Europe without the need to get regulatory approval from the EU countries they wish to operate in. Therefore it is important that 'Passporting' continues if possible after Brexit.

But Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Paris and Dublin would like to migrate the financial services business that takes place in London to their own centres and will seek to stop Passporting after Brexit. 

Arrangements to mutual advantage of London and the other (hitherto competing) European financial centres will have to be developed.

The UK Prime Minister or senior civil servants speaking to their counterparts in Europe is unlikely to yield sufficent sustainable benefits to London / the UK.

If the UK were to send the European Commission, say five technical advisors, free of charge, the options that would reach senior officials / members are likely to have been constructed with sufficient ingenuity and flexibility to be of mutual benefit.

When the Investment Services Directive was being drafted, I was the sole technical advisor on financial services to the Commission. I was able to help drafting to take account of the greater range and scope and different structure of financial services in the UK.

Subsequently that degree of technical involvement doesn't seem to have taken place. For example the CoREP directive requires even three man proprietary trading firms to fill in the same 27 spreadsheets worth of returns that a major bank does. Moreover the returns have to be converted to XBRL and sent to the European Banking Authority. For Europe, this makes sense because in Europe, banks undertake the business undertaken by brokers, market makers and small proprietary trading firms in the UK. But it does not make sense for the UK. 

Appropriate action does need to be taken quickly to preserve the pre-eminent position of the City post Brexit.