Each week Swindon Business News gives a prominent member of the area’s business community the last word on its weekly e-bulletin. This week Phil Smith, managing director of Business West, answers our 10 questions.
What was the LAST: 
Film you watched? No Way Out – a great oldie starring Gene Hackman
Book you read? Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – about the New Zealand gold rush (very long, almost gave up!)
Music you bought/downloaded? Don’t!
Concert or play you went to? Much Ado about Nothing
Sporting event you attended? Wales v Ireland, 6 Nations, Millennium Stadium – more of a spiritual experience than a sporting event
Holiday you went on? Skiing, boys’ trip
Restaurant you ate in? The Old Spot, Wells
Thing that annoyed you? A 14-point turnover Wales v Italy that cost us the championship
Thing that made you laugh out loud? My dog, a wolf-like Romanian orphan, being intimidated by a small fallow deer
Piece of good advice you were given? Buy a Lamborghini with your newly freed-up pension pot.
Phil Smith is managing director of Business West, the organisation behind the Swindon and Wiltshire Initiative. He is also a member of the Business Advisory Group of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, chairman of the South West Regional Venture Capital Fund and a director of Gloucestershire Enterprise Ltd. He began his career with Halliburton as an offshore engineer in the oil industry, later moving on to mergers and acquisitions in the City of London. He moved to Bristol in 1995 as CEO of the Business Link Provider in the West of England. He has an MBA from the London Business School and the University of California.
