Post # 99
April 1, 2026
Claire Bodanis
Claire pays tribute to the late Neil Duffy, who died nine years ago today and whose support and wise counsel are ever more sorely missed.
Dear Neil,
I hope God has been keeping you in Negronis, fags and congenial company these last nine years? I’ve often thought that the Archangel Gabriel was something of a bon viveur. I imagine him leaping up and down with his hand in the air like an excited prep school boy when God asks for a volunteer to take a message to His wicked, sinful world. And, no doubt, tarrying for a spliff or two behind the bike sheds on his way back to the heavenly host, message safely delivered. Although perhaps the AG hurries back more quickly now he has you for a crony.
So what’s been going on since you left us? Well, it’s certainly very wicked and sinful indeed down here now, sadly not always in the fun way that you’d remember. I won’t bother to trouble you with all the frankly unbelievable things that have happened on the global, political stage, since I’m sure you’ve heard it all. Rather, since this is a personal letter, I’ll give you an update on what we’ve been up to in the wicked and sinful line.
On the fun side, we’ve continued to honour your memory by making sure that Falcon Windsor continues to throw the best parties (or so our guests tell us). And, since we’ve now grown into such a large network of independent experts in reporting and comms – 40+ thinkers, writers, regulatory geeks, designers, project managers, proof readers, film producers, yes really! – we now have an annual team ‘retreat’ as well. Masterminded by Justine, of course, and realised in style by Fi.
On the dark side, well, we’ve been continuing to combat misinformation and disinformation in line with Falcon Windsor’s purpose, to promote truthful and accurate corporate information, with humans at the helm. You may well ask: who else would be at the helm, if not people? But since you died, we’ve had the generative AI revolution. Knowing you as I do, I imagine you’d be similarly horrified at the debasing of literature and the flooding of the ‘infosphere’ with so much dross, let alone what’s now called ‘fake news’; but even more at the way some people are behaving as if a relationship with an AI bot is as good as, if not better than, one with a fellow human being.
And I also know you’d have had some brilliant ideas about how I should deal with all this in a positive, creative way, not least considering FW is approaching its 22nd birthday. Of course you’ll be pleased to know that FW is thriving at this grand old age, and doing a heap of things alongside our core of thinking about, writing and producing corporate reporting. Things like corporate films, strategic consulting on purpose and strategy, materiality analyses and the technical side of sustainability reporting – as well as a more obvious use of our talents, our one-off annual report reviews and recommendations. You’d highly approve of these actually, because they’re our way of helping companies that don’t have much money to spend (and so can’t hire us to help them do the doing), but want us to tell them how to make their reporting better, so they can do it themselves!
The problem I’m wrestling with is similar to the one you helped me with just before you died. Which is, not so much what Falcon Windsor should be doing, but what I should be doing myself. Before you fall off your cloud, don’t worry, I‘m no less committed to our purpose – more so, in fact, since I think it’s even more necessary in today’s age of infoslop overload, and with the potential misuse of gen AI hovering. And I’ve not been idle on that front these last few years. Back in 2023 when gen AI really took off with ChatGPT (don’t ask), I began our campaign for its responsible use in corporate reporting.
This campaign now has two publications to its name, and is about to have another – an update on the state of gen AI usage as expressed by corporate publications in the 2025 reporting year – plus its own series of webinars. Not to mention two features in the FT’s Sustainable Views, two mentions in the FT’s The Banker, and a whole spread in the London Evening Standard. Plus my latest proud moment, a letter published in the FT the other week (and yes I mean the real paper, not the website), followed by a supportive letter in response the next day! You’d have laughed at that one.
This past year, despite my brain only slowly recovering from a bash on the head in Feb 25 (thanks to our not-so-favourite Avanti train to Glasgow), I’ve also managed – with the help and support of 50+ investors, technical experts and investors, as well as the FW team – to produce a new model for corporate reporting for the age of AI, inspired by the fact that the UK Government is soon to launch a new Modernisation of Corporate Reporting review. I know you’d be really proud to hear that this time I’ve actually managed to get involved properly, contributing our model to the lovely team at the Department for Business and Trade, who’ve used aspects of it to inform their thinking.
And they really are lovely – keen to work with people doing the doing – and I’m now in the process of using the FW team’s energies to encourage and cajole (oh alright, nag) people to take part in the workshops we’ll be running for the DBT with the Chartered Governance Institute. Who, by the way, have commissioned me to write a new version of Trust me, I’m listed – why the annual report matters and how to do it well, for the age of AI.
But all that’s quite a lot to think about on top of everything else at FW. Not to mention Julius being about to sit his A levels and head off to university in the autumn. Yup, that cheerful, chubby baby who dribbled on your lapel is now a lanky almost-adult, who somehow manages to get served in the pub despite being a month off his 18th birthday.
So without you here, I did the next best thing – I talked to your Interbrand friends, Noel and Jim, who were happy to help for your sake (and whom I’ll be seeing this evening in fact; Interbrand Tim still convenes us every year at St John to raise a glass to your memory – mine’s a pink fizz, of course). And help they did, in coming up with ideas for how I could spend more time promoting truthful and accurate reporting where regulation itself gets made; through writing books and papers, and speaking ad nauseam to anyone who’ll listen about why it matters. While of course, the FW team as a whole continues to fight the good fight with and for our clients in the practical application of reporting and other comms, as in fact they have been doing quite brilliantly while I’ve been taking time off for brain recovery this past year.
What that’s all going to look like would take too long to write (and I haven’t finished working it out yet) – and in any case I hear the beating of wings. It must be Gabriel coming to fetch your letter, which is terribly kind, given that he’s only supposed to appear at Christmas, not at Easter!
So let me finish with this.
Do you remember the message I received from our fellow Dark Angel, Jonathan Holt, on the day of your funeral? His father wrote to him about the importance of living a good life every day, since we never know when death will take us: “We need to love, be loved and make a difference while we can.”
Back then, I interpreted it in the professional sense as doing our best work with people we respect and like, whether they’re colleagues or clients. And I still feel that way; although today, given the broader remit of what we do (and the greater importance of promoting truthful and accurate corporate information, with humans at the helm), I’d expand it to encompass everyone with whom we come into contact in our professional lives.
I hope that in doing so, we continue to honour your memory – you who loved, were loved and made a difference, my Dark Angel, advisor and friend.
Claire x