Three days of workshops with people who specialise in topics I don’t – always a rich opportunity for learning. The discussions? The world 20 years from now. The setting? A 16th century mansion in Egham.

To what extent can being surrounded by ‘the past’ provide direction to thoughts about the future? And given the richness of experiences we are able to capture now, to what extent will future-guessing workshops 400 years from now rely on immersed ‘past experiences’?