And so I am just back from very sunny Boston. It was a day spent being grateful to people for tactfully ignoring my black eyes. It was also a day spent envying my partner, Layla, for having spent a summer working at Harvard when she was a medical student. Even in my very brief visit, I was struck by what a clever city it seemed – and one where people are interested in a whole bunch of things (not that DC is quite the one trick pony politics place it’s sometimes characterised as). And it was such a handsome place – not a phrase I thought I’d hear myself using. But, you know, that kind of almost stately architecture that you sometimes see in Europe.
I met some brilliant people in an amazingly short space of time. John Briscoe – who is Director of Harvard Water Sciences Security Initiative – and I talked water security, following on from National Intelligence Council’s assessment of global water security. On the subject of which, I liked the Wilson Center’s “takeaways” from it and whilst referencing blogs on the subject, Layla’s take on World Water Day in The Huffington Post is also very jolly.
I lunched with the British academic Fiona Murray, currently at MIT, and we talked about innovation and philanthropy. This led to a chat on the incentives of prizes and the consequent inspired nature of the recently announced Queen Elizabeth Prize. And I reminisced about the glorious schloss in Salzburg (home of the von Trappe family aka the Sound of Music family) with Harvard Professor Mark Wu, which was where we first met – in addition to talking trade policy and China, of course.
A particular highlight was a visit to Senator Kerry’s office, where we met his State Director, Drew O’Brien. Having been so immersed in national – by which I guess I mean Washington – politics over the last few months, it was great to refocus and to hear about what the world looks like from a Massachusetts perspective. Energy issues are really very different in the windiest place in the US. And as for trade – the UK is the largest international employer in the state (over 40,000 jobs) and the second largest market for Massachusetts exports – so it’sclearly a vital trading relationship.
Back in DC today, I’m already planning my return to the other windy city in the US…