Having been now to seven Siyumei Hashass in London, I feel well placed to make some comments about the Siyum earlier this week. Kodem Kol, it must be stated quite catagorically that this was the Siyum with the best location, the best facilities, the most seats, the best organisation and the best sound system ever. This was one of the most prestigious locations in London. Although the hall was built in 1951 for the Festival of Britain, it is still a magnificent venue. It wasindeed fortunate that the Dutch Olympic team had pre-booked the Alexandra Park Great Hall, which was the venue of the last Siyum, for their Olympic base. It was also so much of an advantage to have a really first class sound and video system. The Siyum 15 years ago was in a large sports hall with abysmal sound. So it really was an eye opener to see the speakers clearly on a giant screen and to be able to hear every word of the speeches. And that brings me to my main point. Assurances had been given that speeches would be in English – or at least some of the speeches. It was therefore extremely sad that only Rabbi Lieff spoke in English. What was also upsetting was that the Moro D’asroh, Dayan Epraim Padwa chose to give a Pillpul which was nor the requirement for the evening and was also bearly understandable due to the Dayan’s relatively unclear speech. At the last Siyum, I told the organisers that if they continued with their insistance of having speeches in Yiddish, there would soon come a time when there would have to be a separate Siyum with English speakers only. It is staggering that the oprganisers did not realise that well over half the Shiurim for Daf Yomi are in North West London and over half in English with at least as many participants not able to understand Yiddish. Yes, there were translation facilities, but this was not the same. Every single speaker speaks English, even Rav Padwa except for the Klausenburger-Sanz Rebbe. Why did it not happen? How sad that so many daf Yomi followers (not necessarily learners) who came to a unique event were disadvantaged in this way.