Following on from my first foray to The Charleston Festival, where I was entertained and inspired by Led by Donkeys in equal measure, I returned for a double session during the second week. The weather was less kind than on my previous visit, the air heavy with thunder but the quality of the talks on offer made the steaming conditions entirely worthwhile and the marquee was packed.
Lady Hale and Julia Hoggett
One such session was with former judge and first-ever female President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lady Hale and her daughter Julia Hoggett, DBE, the second-ever female Chief Executive Officer of the London Stock Exchange and the first ever such CEO to come out.
The two share a common passion to provide stability and trust in very different fields and in very different ways, in business and in law.
As mother and daughter, they made a fascinating dynamic of two powerhouses. Both were so individually fascinating, it felt as if we had a glimpse of two main courses and were only given a smattering of tapas.
I wanted to hear more of Lady Hale’s extraordinary career, more of Julia’s plans to increase trust and accessibility in the financial world. They touched, for example, on how women have to choose between acting like a man or being highly feminine to survive. That alone deserved an hour of debate.
There was a joyful theme of human insights behind the very public faces. We heard how Lady Hale asked her daughter for good luck on her way to stop Boris proroguing parliament and how Julia practised the law with her lawyer father as early as 7 or 8 years old.
The audience laughed loudly as they heard how a blindingly ignorant reporter, having researched Lady Hale’s time studying for the bar, penned a headline describing her as a former barmaid. The bond between the two is palpable. They still live on the same street, and were clearly enjoying sharing a stage for only the second time.
Nick Clegg; Politics, Silicon Valley and AI
The Right Honourable Nick Clegg’s career has been an extraordinary one. I remember watching the very first time he had a major impact on the general public, the 2010 first-ever live election debate, with David Cameron and Gordon Brown, when his boyish charm and sincerity won accolades from the viewers.
His time in power was not something he covered during this talk, bar when talking Trump and politics, a quick mention of how quickly political tides can turn. This was produced with a suitably wry, self-deprecating smile, but even today, voters are angry with him for selling out on key Lib Dem election promises.
That artless authenticity and boyish charm has been polished by years of politics and Silicon Valley. Many of us wondered how that leap came about. It emerges that after he finally lost his seat, Clegg told us how he was on holiday with his family when a call came through from Sheryl Sandberg asking him to come and work at META.
He said “No”, but later went out to look. Facebook was still in their “move fast and break things” mode, and were experiencing image issues following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, not to mention a little trouble over Russian interference in the US elections.
During his time there, Clegg worked to reduce their exposure to governments and build lasting relationships with regulators. When he joined, Clegg says it was the start of the pendulum swing on attitudes towards tech. Initially, it had been hailed as the solution to every world problem. Now, it was starting to be viewed with deep suspicion. In the early days, Silicon Valley was not involved in politics; the sheer geography kept them apart. Obama was the first president to take any interest.
One of the most interesting parts of Clegg’s talk, and there were many, was the description of the dramatic polarisation of American culture in 2020. This is unique to the US and goes some way to explain how America arrived where it is today, triggered partly by COVID, George Floyd and the Hunter Biden scandal, the latter of which many believe was shut down by Silicon Valley.
Clegg tells of regular calls about Facebook content from the administration but felt it was more about panic than restrictions. Others heard it as an attack on free speech and it became a huge topic.
Biden’s regulations also appeared to favour foreign companies over US ones, so when Trump came along promising to sweep away regulations and champion free speech, Silicon Valley became aggressively pro-Trump, something Clegg says “doesn’t appeal to his skillset”.
During Clegg’s tenure at Facebook, Donald Trump was suspended from the platform after the insurrection at the Capitol.
The common theme
All three speakers talked of their views on the world and how their work was a part of making it a better, if far from perfect place. I have always been in awe of Lady Hale and Julia Hoggett is an inspiration in her own field and I was left in no doubt of their passion.
Clegg talks of his dream that the world would cooperate globally and create the necessary standards and regulations that would ensure AI is used ethically and safely. “We need intentional cooperation”, he says, arguing that AI can still offer the world incredible advantages if only companies acknowledge the risks and behave responsibly.
Serious research, he argues, has shown that tech has far less influence on our opinions than people worry about. It was that old naïve sincerity again. The aspirations sound great, but this is someone who has spent an entire career putting forward an acceptable face on Cameron and Zuckerberg.
I couldn’t help wondering if some part of what we were seeing now was sincerity but also a very finely-honed performance.
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