Tom Fletcher

Tom Fletcher

Former British Ambassador to Lebanon

Part of UK in Lebanon

28th November 2014 Beirut, Lebanon

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, SPEED DATING AND JAWBONE

I recently got a Jawbone ‘Up’, a device that monitors your daily activity, sleep patterns and exercise, and helps you better control your health. As a father of two boys, I don’t need anyone to tell me I don’t get enough sleep. But, like many, I’m outsourcing the collection of my data to a plastic bracelet. Anyone who watches a 3 year old with an iPad knows that our basic human reflexes are being reshaped by our relationship with digital technology.

What would the ‘Up’ tell us if we attached it to Lebanon’s wrist? I think it would say that we have a country that is as vulnerable as ever to external shocks – Iran/Saudi, ISIL, Palestine/Israel, Syria. A country that has serious health issues – corruption, poor infrastructure, rising sectarianism. A country that veers between dramatic highs and lows. But, most of all, a country that is more resilient than it realises. Many weaker societies would have gone under by now. The fact that Lebanon has not demonstrates an inner strength that should never be underestimated.

I don’t have the first idea how the ‘Up’ really works. Not unlike my understanding of Lebanon. Like the ‘Up’, Lebanon also tells us something about ourselves. As more countries struggle with questions of coexistence, terrorism and power sharing, the country may find itself more listened to, and less talked at. Like the ‘Up’, the answer is not the data it collects, but the answers that data provides, and the ability to take control of the response. From choosing its own President to fixing the issues that hold back its dynamism, Lebanon needs to exercise that right.

The ‘Up’ also reminds us that power is changing at the fastest rate in history. I was in Carthage last week, reflecting on the rise and fall of empires and the story of Alexander the Great. I was also at the launch of the UK/Lebanon Tech Hub. The most powerful people in the room were not those of us on the stage, but over 1000 start ups and entrepreneurs present who will come surging past us all. It was energising to be in the same room as them, and exhilarating to be in the same century. We are only at the cusp of the political and social upheaval that the internet will bring. The last innovation remotely comparable was the printing press, and that shaped the modern world. Hierarchies are being torn down. Companies, ideas and states are being put out of business. Power used to feel like a British banquet – top down, structured, everything in its place. Power now feels like a Lebanese meal – more chaotic, anarchic, wild. As I told the young entrepreneurs, ‘sahtein’, tuck in.

The countries that succeed in the digital century will be those that can best mobilise their networks. The Lebanese have an advantage there – they are the world’s best networkers. People talk about the erosion of borders in this region. We hope that the UK-Lebanon Tech Hub will remove the economic borders between our best pioneers, visionaries and creators. We hope to match-make innovation. We hope that the next Bill Gates will be British or Lebanese. Linking Lebanon with a digital superpower, the hub could be a launchpad for the next indispensable service that we can’t yet imagine yet find we cannot live without. It will unleash something more revolutionary than business or innovation alone – the power of the Lebanese spirit.

This initiative builds on success. We are on track to double UK/Lebanese trade inside four years. As we approach St Andrew’s Day, I’m proud that we sell in Lebanon more Scottish salmon and Scotch whisky per capita than anywhere in the world. Perhaps no coincidence, we sell more Panadol per head (ache) too.

The Lebanese people want security. So Britain is with the army on the borders and the checkpoints. The Lebanese people want hope. So Britain is getting education to every corner of the country. The Lebanese people want opportunity. So Britain is with them in the Tech Hub.

One last point about Jawbone. The founder is UK/Lebanese. It is a powerful combination. He’s also called Alexander.

5 comments on “ALEXANDER THE GREAT, SPEED DATING AND JAWBONE

  1. How about Britain tackles domestic issues for British Moslems as well:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-muslims-face-worst-job-discrimination-of-any-minority-group-9893211.html

    I was a medical student at St. Andrews in 2002 and recall my Scottish pharmacology lecturer asking me in public to leave a practical class when he realised I was observing my fasting in Ramadan.

    Never got my medical degree nor did I get a job in the UK since! Can Britain do something about this?

  2. How about Britain tackles domestic issues for British Moslems as well:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-muslims-face-worst-job-discrimination-of-any-minority-group-9893211.html

    I was a medical student and St. Andrews in 2002 and recall my Scottish pharmacology lecturer asking me in public to leave a practical class when he realised I was observing my fasting in Ramadan.

    Never got my medical degree nor did I get a job in the UK since! Can Britain do something about this?

  3. It is interesting to see people who can highlight the good opportunities inspite of the “down time” and provides new ways to go out of this! This is what we need in Lebanon. A club, a gathering or a program to help new generation be positively oriented and teach them how to build or transform negative energy to a positive momentum.
    Thank you Mr. Tom, I hope you empress others too.

  4. A very nice essay esp. the phrase about the resilience of the Lebanese people. We always make the ends meet, yet we don’t know how except we are survivors. I always say that Llebanese people are like a one year exploring baby, whenever you remove a thing from a baby’s hand, he/ she may cry a little then he/ she moves to another thing- those who have kids know this. It is nice that we want to double the trade, but it would be nicer if we could copy the culture & habits like working together at getting public transport in Lebanon. When I visited London 2 years ago, I liked most the convenience & relaiability of the red buses transport system. As a women, I shoud say( stereo-typically) that I like the shopping centers too.
    As Lebanese, I think a Jawbone “up” would be a nice Lebanese fashion- we take technology as fashion-, esp. that we live one day at a time getting the most of the day: some go for the working part to sustain a good living standards & others for the fun part to enjoy their short life.
    Well, sorry for the long comment, but somtimes an essay will drive you to write. It is a nice essay mixing between daily routines & ambitious dreams to fulfill. thank you for sharing it.

    Engineer Sana al SirawanL eneral Directior of Technical affairs at PCM.
    A member of The Chevening Alumni Association-Lebanon

  5. As always, I like the article… food for thought!

    I am not quite sure however about the “speed dating” in the title. I think it’s referencing the “match-making” of innovation between British and Lebanese entrepreneurs, the speed of it being that such tech-driven innovations do move at quite a fast pace. The link is a little bit too tenuous though, for it to figure in the title. Which means the title actually throws readers off. Consider a change?

Comments are closed.

About Tom Fletcher

Tom Fletcher was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Lebanese Republic in August 2011. Tom was born in Kent, and studied at Harvey Grammar School (Folkestone) and Oxford University (Hertford…

Tom Fletcher was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Lebanese Republic in August 2011.

Tom was born in Kent, and studied at Harvey Grammar School (Folkestone) and Oxford University (Hertford College), graduating with a First class degree in Modern History. He has an MA in Modern History, and is a Senior Associate Member of St Anthony’s College for International Studies, Oxford.

He is married to Louise Fletcher and they have two sons, Charles (born 2006) and Theodor (born 2011). Tom enjoys political history, cricket (Strollers CC), and mountains, and is the co-founder of 2020 (a progressive think tank).

Tom was awarded the Companion of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2011 New Year’s Honours, for services to the Prime Minister.