Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) were the consummate hosts welcoming 120 of us to a fantastic mid-day event on 10 January.  We had two excellent presentations, “Investing for the Future” by Sarbjit Nahal and “The Rise, Rise, and Fall(?) of Cryptocurrencies” by our principal host, Philip Middleton.  Both presentations were thought-provoking.  Sarbjit ended almost paradoxically with the bank having a theme of investing in reducing inequality to make money.  Philip questioned the rise of Bitcoin at all, let alone to such giddying heights (one bitcoin = $14,895 on 10 January).  Beforehand we had a private tour of a section of the Roman Wall that BAML maintain for visitors, and afterwards we had a truly generous and tasty luncheon discussion.  Our sincere thanks to Philip in particular for hosting 125 people hungry for knowledge, and lunch.