From a young age I have been interested in why and how things degrade and fail. Wanting to preserve things that are important to you is something everyone shares - but the things I found myself most attached to were things that I used, and that were difficult to replace.

There are hundreds of ways to preserve a thing - but if that thing’s value is tied to its usage, then those ways are most certainly not all equal.

To choose a mundane example: One of my favourite possessions is a slender wooden spatula. It has just the right degree of flex, and the right amount of curve, to be incredibly versatile. I only use it sparingly, but whenever I find myself lacking a more specialised kitchen utensil it is has never let me down.

I could preserve it by locking it away in a hermetically sealed glass box forever… but as soon as I did it would become useless. It would no longer have value, because its value is in its usefulness.

So, to preserve this spatula, it is important to understand why and how it degrades and eventually fails.

Now that is a very simple example… but in the same way, you cannot preserve a country by locking it away. People “use” a country by living in it, and so to preserve or improve a country effectively, it is important to understand how and why it might be degraded or fail.

This has captured my attention from quite a young age, evolving from a love of history and an interest in games of strategy.

I realised quickly though that merely predicting disaster helps nobody. It was important to diagnose the causes of disaster, and work to cure or prepare for them. This began my journey to you reading this.

I am passionate about long term solutions to preserve and improve the quality of our way of life, and to steer away from potential disasters as early as possible. After all, prevention is better than a cure.