“Benjamin – Ben – Cohen is one of that rare breed of people: someone I took a passionate dislike to from the very first time I heard his name, without even having met him. Actually, I should clarify that – it wasn’t his name that made me dislike him; that would make me sound like an enormous anti-Semite (in fact, some of my best friends control the media and killed Jesus). No, the reason I took an instant dislike to Ben Cohen is that he was everything I wanted to be: someone who during the dot com bubble had created a virtual media empire out of nothing and in doing so had managed to convince the press that he was not just a genius, but a rich genius. And all before he was twenty.” - Bringing Nothing To The Party (p35)

Great Glasshouse event at Channel 4 HQ last night on ‘Making a Difference: Delivering Public Service in the Digital Age.’ Organised by Judith and the gang, there was a panel discussion with Eric Auchard (Reuters), Saul Klein (Index Ventures/The Accelerator Group), Zenna Atkins (Chair of Ofsted), Tom Loosemore (Head of 4iP) & Martin Stiksel Ryan Regan (Last.fm).

There was some interesting debate - although it was curious to hear how many of the panel talked about the digital world being something of interest to ‘their children’ rather than themselves. It was also great to hear someone important (Zenna Atkins) being so candid with their feelings on education and government. I’m not entirely certain why Last.fm were there but, yunno, always good to see them.

But really there’s only one thing to report about the evening. I finally met Ben Cohen…

(Photo kudos: Paul Walsh)

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