When my friend James Lyons told me last summer that he was going to take a gap year, I knew it wouldn’t be a normal career break. It’s common enough for successful men around 50 to take some time out from busy, stressful careers to re-evaluate, reflect and just get some sleep. I know bankers who have gone back to university, consultants who’ve gone travelling and private equity guys who become surfers.

James Lyons is usually the first to see where the story is going

But that was never going to James’ mid-life break from the norm. He’s the most intensely focused person I know. After 15 years together as political journalists at Westminster – where he usually beat me to the story, by getting up earlier and working harder than me – I opted for a quiet life running a think-tank and he went t

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