I do lots of things. My actual, real job, which I spend most of my time doing, is being a trainee patent attorney at Boult Wade Tennant LLP in London.
In addition, I run a literary magazine and I’m involved with various Labour Party groups. I also have a PhD in physics from Imperial, and I’ve previously worked as a data scientist at QuantSpark Ltd.
Besides all that, I enjoy sailing (see right) and skiing, keeping up-to-date with what’s going on in physics, playing the piano, going to the theatre, learning dead languages, and using ‘playing cricket’ as an excuse to go to the pub. I’m also learning to row, which is a lot of fun, and I sing in a choir.
Below are links to other projects I’m involved in with their own websites, links to other pages (or directories of pages) on this website, and a feed of things I’ve written or want to share. You can also check out my full CV or my LinkedIn. The best way to get in touch with me is by email. Link above.
Projects
Tamarind Literary Magazine
TAMARIND is a literary magazine which publishes short stories about science, scientists, and the interaction between science and society. I started it in 2020 with two friends from university after we became frustrated with the way science and scientists were depicted in media. We’re now a team of six, on our seventh issue, and going strong!
Labour for the Constitution
Labour for the Constitution is a group of Labour Party members who are trying to improve the understanding of Britain’s uncodified constitution within the party. We hope that any future Labour reforms of the way our country runs will be designed to strengthen our constitution’s fundamental virtues.
Pages
- Curriculum Vitae
- My full CV.
- Git Repositories
- Git repositories available from this website (read-only).
Feed
This is a feed of things I’ve found that I wanted to share 🔗, things I’ve written 📝 which I’ve posted on here or which have been published elsewhere, and quick one-para reviews 💛 👍 👎 of books, shows, and other media I have C O N S U M E D recently.
-
- A Future Secured, Progressive Britain
- link to this post
I contributed a piece on R&D to this collection edited by Fabian Society defence chair Marcus Storm. In it, I talk about how sheer weight of numbers can matter more than technological superiority in times of all-out-war and propose that we should be using a metric of 'lethality per pound spent on production' to determine what projects to fund and which platforms to invest in. -
- ఆటలు (ఒక కవిత)
- link to this post
లేపోతే: మాట్లాటకి దెబ్బలాటకి పోట్లాటకి శబ్దవ్యుత్పత్తిలు మీద ఒక కవిత్వ అధ్యయనం. -
- Low Tech Magazine
- link to this post
This is an excellent online magazine, with loads of interesting articles. It’s actually run off a solar-powered server, and the website has a battery indicator to warn you if the server is about to run out of power! I bought a typewriter recently (blog article coming, perhaps), and found this particular article when I was searching around on Marginalia for blog posts about typewriters. It’s a very interesting read — evalulating the energy usage of paper-based offices and digital offices. Sometimes new problems actually just need old solutions. -
- Marginalia Search
- link to this post
A wonderful indie search engine that surfaces old fashioned personal webpages and other ‘small web’ sites. If you've ever appeneded ‘reddit’ to a Google search, then try searching for the same thing in Marginalia. The results will be the same vibe, but you'll get people's personal sites instead of a bunch of Reddit posts. -
- Player Kings (1 & 2 Henry IV), Shakespeare & Robert Icke, Noel Coward Theatre
- link to this post
Absolutely f*cking fantastic. There's been so much disappointing theatre this year, so it was deeply refreshing to see a competantly executed production of Shakespeare's epic two-parter. Sir Ian McKellen (Falstaff) was sublime, flipping between comedic and tragic with the ease that begets a knighthood for acting. Toheeb Jimoh (Prince Hal) was similarly excellent, convincingly managing to blend the twin characters of Hal – the petty thief and reprobate – and Henry, Prince of Wales – the future warrior-king who would lead his troops to victory at Agincourt. The lighting, sound, and set design were similarly fantastic, and a particular shout-out must go to Henry Jenkinson's fantastic counter-tenor performance, providing a musical backdrop to all the goings-on. -
- Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon
- link to this post
Really interesting novel, set at the end of the 1st Millennium A.D. in the Caucasus, but very much written in the style of an American Western. Definitely worth reading. -
- Hadestown, Anais Mitchell & Rachel Chavkin, Lyric Theatre
- link to this post
This is the second time I've seen Hadestown – the first was during its 2018 off-West End run at the National Theatre. Then, I thought it was an excellent book-in-progress which needed some work to allow the relationships to breathe and the characters to really come out of their shells and develop. Unfortunately, six years and a 'finished' book later, I still think the same. To add insult to injury, the West End cast's performances leave a lot to be desired. Donal Finn (Orpheus) was not able to hit his high notes – notes which are absolutely fundamental to the plot – and had next to no chemistry with Miriam Nyarko (Eurydice). Though Patrick Page (NT Hades) is an impossible act to follow, Zachary James (Hades) did a decent job trying, but his performance was undercut by a consistent inability to play the part straight and with sincerety (though this may be more directorial than actorial). The real stand-out performances were from Gloria Onitiri (Persephone) and the Fates, who were simply stunning in a cappella. -
- Civil War, Alex Garland
- link to this post
Quite a complicated movie trying to simultaneously be a war film, a defence of journalism, and a coming-of-age film. Overall an enjoyable movie which manages its threads quite well, but on occasion muddles up tying them together. -
- Monkey Man, Dev Patel
- link to this post
Overall a great film. Really good for a directorial debut, especially as quite a complex action film. The politics were vaguely interesting but not sure who it was really targeting, not that it matters, really. -
- Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros
- link to this post
I found it boring; sorry. Also the setting was so thin I legit forgot it was a fantasy novel until a dragon incinerated someone. -
- Methods for Zeeman-Sisyphus deceleration of heavy polar molecules
- link to this post
My Phd thesis (lol). Zeeman-Sisyphus deceleration is a method for slowing polar molecules while scattering only a small number of photons when compared with direct laser cooling. It has applications in ensuring that a wider range of molecules can be slowed and confined to within the acceptance of a magneto-optical trap. -
- The Golden Gate, Vikram Seth
- link to this post
Quite possibly my favourite book ever. A verse novel written in tetrameter about a disillusioned Silicon Valley employee in the 80s. -
- Physics and Sailing
- link to this post
"Sailing's always been something I've been interested in, and post-Covid-lockdown I finally got around to doing a lot more of it. Many things appeal to me about it: there is nothing quite like being in the middle of a large body of water gliding forward…" -
- Better Mother$%*#ing Website
- link to this post
Not actually the inspiration for this website (I didn't see it until after I'd made this), but the same general concept being applied: keep it simple, but still make it look nice. -
- LaTeX.css
- link to this post
Considered using this for this website; it's very pretty and works well with MathJax. -
- Justus Grunow's Homepage
- link to this post
Mostly the inspiration for this website. -
- The Green Knight, David Lowery
- link to this post
Overall an excellent film that was let down by its inability to decide whether it wanted to be a straight retelling of the parable or a modern character-driven reinterpretation. Costuming, set, and cinematography were right up my street. Bonus points for actually giving King Arthur a Welsh accent. -
- We Can No Longer Rely on the US: We Must Have our own Independent Foreign Policy
- link to this post
"… The reality is that the US systematically failed to prepare the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan Air Force (AAF) for their departure. They forced the AAF to replace their Russian craft – for which spares and know-how are easily available – with American Black Hawks …" -
- The Employees, Olga Ravn
- link to this post
Brilliant short read. Vaguely in the sci-fi genre but also not really. Absolutely deserved its Booker Prize nomination. -
- Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels, Ian Morris
- link to this post
Quite an interesting book, examining the morals of various human societies across time and how they change with technology. The arguments are occasionally a bit light on detail. -
- Science and Technology in the Integrated Review: Stretching the Quantum Net Too Thin
- link to this post
"The scattershot approach to investment the Review proposes does not work if funding is short. As it stands, the money proposed by the Government would possibly be enough to start research in several fields, but not enough to produce anything useful or have any technology leave the laboratory. This seems to be the story of UK science and technology…" -
- In My Hands (Poem)
- link to this post
A poem I wrote about how much I like books. -
- Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are the UK's natural allies outside Europe
- link to this post
"Free trade is good for a market economy. However, it is free movement, that oft-neglected part of the neoliberal puzzle, which ensures that any economic fruits of free trade are properly distributed. This is clear when one considers the fact that free trade results in specialisation…" -
- The Difference Between What and Why: Science, Machine Learning, and Policy
- link to this post
"Delegating decision-making to machine learning models is all the rage today. From deciding where to deploy policing resources to sifting through CVs, the technology appears all over everyday life. However, faith in these methods is misguided and our increasing dependence on them in policymaking should trouble us…" -
- Bran's Kernel Development
- link to this post
I made a fairly rubbish OS back in secondary school following this tutorial. It was somewhat fun, taught me a lot, and was very satisfying. -
- En vogue: The Least Pretentious Art Fair in London
- link to this post
"The Affordable Art Fair is a showcase of all of the best new artwork available to be bought by your average Imperial-student-turned-banker that takes places twice a year in Battersea Park. Although its use of the word 'affordable' is about as apt as the word's application to the £400,000 studio flats which overlook the park…" -
- Man Booker Prize winner: Milkman a "challenging" read
- link to this post
"The first thing one notices about Anna Burns' Milkman is the lack of names. The closest thing our protagonist gets to one is "middle sister", and the setting is only ever referred to obliquely, and its characters by sobriquet…"