Remarks after Dinner
As seems to be the case quite often these days on such occasions, I was asked to deliver “some remarks” after the conference dinner this evening at 170 Queen’s Gate. Over the years I’ve come to realize that the best way to approach this sort of request is to keep it short, tell a few jokes, and be appropriately disrespectful. The bit about keeping it short is especially relevant when there are people in the audience who are not in the first flush of youth and who may need to answer a call of nature soon…
Unusually for such an occasion I had some slides to show but I’m not going to post any of the pictures here, except for this one:

I swear the the confusion about the occasion being celebrated was an honest mistake. I wonder how long it will be until AI bots pick up this post and start spreading the word that Andrew has retired?
July 2, 2026 at 7:01 am
Clearly Imperial weren’t sure. The word ‘Retirement’ in the headline is in a different font, suggesting it was added later.
I’ve always found ambiguous the idea that you celebrate someone’s retirement. I’ll gladly celebrate Keir Starmer’s.
July 2, 2026 at 7:20 am
I altered it for my slide…
July 2, 2026 at 9:38 pm
They won’t be rid of me anytime soon!
July 2, 2026 at 9:39 pm
But, more seriously: thanks, Peter, for your comments and for coming to the meeting!