The Visionary

It's one thing to have a bunch of wild ideas but how on earth did you ever get them up? Well, you have a massive power-base and a bunch of sycophantic supporters within the science community - that helps.  Your colleagues provide further insight:

He’s a visionary. He is willing to take risks. 

an activist who.. at the same time is a very big-picture thinker

(Not normal big-picture thinker - very big)

He’s massively driven, and a great visionary.

Jeremy’s very much a shrewd team player who has brokered funding from several sources in negotiations with .. China.

A shrewd ‘visionary’ -  activist - risk-taker - good at brokering funding with the CCP. 

Most of them i’d agree - but the very big-picture visionary? Depends how you define visionary. 

For mine, it’s more than someone having a grandiose thought bubble -  equipped with the mega-power to enact it.  

A visionary is someone who has the rare ability to:

     -     think things through    -

All aspects. Not limited to one's power-accumulating self-interest.  Be able to think like a Grand Master chess player. Envision how moves play out - as if you are your opponent - see not only the good that might come from a move - but the bad. Weigh that up. 

But that’s not how Sir Jeremy approaches life. It’s more your devil-may-care style where ... we are faced with some decisions - we don’t really ever quite understand the implications of the decisions we reach. (or care)

Farrar (2018): This week we announced the creation of the Wellcome Leap Fund (the Great Leap Forward?), a new £250 million fund designed to fast forward .. progress  (that sounds eerily like Covid) by taking greater risks and funding ambitious research programmes at scale. .. In the meantime, I am off for a walking cycling and sailing holiday in the Alps – I’ll be in touch when I am back.

Nice. Set the dial to maximum risk - then pop off for a holiday in the Alps - we’ll see how it works out when I get back…

Now there’s no turning back.

Farrar, Nature: We are at a crucial juncture in international health; .. we must grasp the opportunity .. or we will lose our ventures.

And grasp it you did. Congratulations - you won your ventures. Freedom lost. 

Though let’s call it the battle - not the war.