 He is a grandson, via his mother, of Dr Alfred Wiener, the Jewish activist and founder of the Wiener Library.He is the brother of Prof. Anthony Finkelstein FREng, Dean of the UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences at University College London and of Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.He was educated at University College School, the London School of Economics (BSc, 1984) and City University London (MSc, 1986).