Rhodes Youth Time Forum; Day Two

Interviewing Dr Yakunin and 25- year old Youth Time founder Julia Kinash today along with other key speakers from around the world helps me to understand the premise and history of this young organisation. Julia is clear in her vision and undoubtedly sincere. Dr Yakunin, while happy to advance Russian interests, is genuine in his international vision. He has a deeply thought out attitude towards encouraging the young and while prepared to help kickstart Youth Time efforts, told me that he expects it to fly with a lot of hard work.
A stand out speaker, apart from the above two, is Dutchman Rob van Kranenburg. A complete technospecialist, he surprised everyone when I asked him about his driver by answering with one word; "Love."

Sobering food for thought today. A shout out for Valeria Bulavskaya who took photos while I was interviewing, and remembered to give me some ice to place on my sprained ankle when I sat still for a while.
Today we are joined by German and Italian journalists; we are now complete.

Rhodes Youth Forum; Day One

100 proactive young people have been brought together from all over the world by theYouth Time organisation based in Prague and Moscow. The journalists; one Dane, one Frenchman, one Russian and I are being ably looked after by Anna Kasimovskaya and her colleagues here and in Moscow. I have identified my target interviewees but the correspondent from L'Opinion and I are both intrigued by and interested in interviewing Vladimir Yakunin, Youth Time patron, founding president of the Russian "Dialogue of Civilizations" and confidant of President Putin.
Why is Mr Yakunin so keen on gathering committed and  interested young people together in the way that he does through Youth Time?
Is this more than soft diplomacy?

Interview with 2013 Law Firm of the Year Taylor Wessing's India Group Co-Chairs

Taylor Wessing's India Group Co-Chairs Laurence Lieberman and Vinod Bange talked to me in their airy 10th floor offices in the City.
They were frank and fearless, and I have written here what was allowed on the record. What they said off the record was fascinating too!

Read the interview here

Sharukh Khan is a Lovely Guy...and Thin.

I was a bit narked at being kept waiting over an hour by the man Newsweek described as one of the 50 most powerful people in the world and consumed an unreasonable amount of delicious chocolate chip cookies while realising that however seasoned we are, it is our subject's prerogative to keep us waiting for interviews.

The more star struck of the youngsters around gazed longingly into his eyes and told him he had her undying love. Outside the Courthouse Hotel in central London fans waited expectantly, pens and paper in hand. I discovered one girl outside my interview room being held back by a security guard and crying her eyes out as she could not meet her hero, despite having come from Paris to see him. It was a bit disconcerting.

Interviewing Sharukh Khan about his latest release Chennai Express I was impressed by his gentle, laid back style and quiet thoughtfulness. He has a stillness about him and told me that he was quite shy about romance.

He gave me all his attention when I asked him my questions and gently corrected any preconceptions my editor and I had formulated while discussing topics around Chennai Express this morning.

There I was, sitting at my screen in my office contemplating private equity when the urgent call came through for this assignment. I've wanted to meet the guy the Los Angeles Times called "The world's biggest movie star" for months despite one of my editors -who put him on a front cover- telling me he was kept waiting for over four hours.

Shar Rukh Khan told me he was fit and enjoyed the action sequences in Chennai Express, and sure enough, when I observed his physique as he got up to leave, he did look really, really slim.

Forbes India Fourth Anniversary Special Issue; JX Board Member David Nash

Senior oil executives like David Nash usually like to stay under the radar so I was really grateful to my friend for agreeing to be interviewed at short notice for this annual event issue. David is the only non-Japanese member of any Japanese Exploration and Production Board and has been in the industry for 40 years. His relationship with Japan stretches back nearly that far too. David worked for Shell and BP for 18 years before joining Mitsubishi Oil in 1993. His narrative is inspirational and he deserves the place among international thought leaders that Forbes India and I have given him. David's insights into the oil and gas industry are revealing as well as informative and he has many more interesting thoughts that I didn't have space for. I really appreciated David's work to perfect and hone the expression of his ideas. The editor supervising this special issue actually sent David's "as told to" round to the rest of the editorial team as an example for colleagues to emulate. Given that out of all my outlets, Forbes India has the maximum number of draft-writing stages, this was high praise. In our line of work praise is a rare phenomenon -we are constantly giving, writing, producing so feedback time scarcely exists. Any appreciation therefore means a helluva lot to a hack. UPDATE; Within a few days of going online, David Nash is climbing the list of most read Forbes India articles -up to number six so far. You go, David, and by the way, my AP colleague took a great portrait of you for Director of Photography Dinesh Krishnan!

"Sonia Gandhi" in the New Left Review

The New Left Review has just gotten round to reading my book, which the journal describes as "A primer on dynastic form." Ah well, since the Left and dynasties do not traditionally make the best bedfellows, no surprise there, then. But the journal has certainly devoted a lot of space to this review.

Inside Story Half Hour on Al Jazeera English; the Maoist insurgency

Al Jazeera English consistently examines in depth many of the big stories. It is the international television network that most nearly chimes with what concerns citizens round the world rather than just what matters to Europe and the USA. My colleagues in Doha, AJE headquarters, rarely give me a whole lot of notice, as is the case in the news world, but one hour to studio for this Inside Story half hour programme June 1st 2013 was a big ask from a standing start with me in my west London clothes and no make up when the car journey alone averages 45 mins. Still, Nick, my producer, we did it, didn't we; we linked up successfully with Delhi and we had a fairly civilized panel discussion on the Maoist situation in India.