Simon in Full Bloom

Simon and daughter Sophie

Simon turns 60, celebrated with a party at a Soho Italian. Over dinner I meet Sam (attorney working on criminal investigations), Fran (Cambridge PhD earned in her 50s now teaching english literature at .. Cambridge), Nick (investing public equities at Al Gore's Generation) and Andrea who is a classical  recitalist, piano, and technology banker and solar industrialist. This, mind you, at my end of the table.

Sophie, meanwhile, pursues her career as a serious gumshoe journalist when not doing stand-up work at the London comedy clubs. 

As for Simon, he invests in the climate transition and is active in climate policy and the geopolitics of energy. He chairs the Octopus Energy Climate Ventures Advisory Board and, before that, was a vc (founder, Fidelity Ventures and Generation) and the CFO of a startup from business plan to $1bn IPO. Simon's books include 'Terror Vanquished - The Italian Approach to Defeating Terrorism' and the Center for American Progress blueprint for defeating violent white nationalist extremists. He was Chair of the Foreign Policy for America in Washington D.C. and now chairs the board of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.