Plus ça change at Westminster!

Now here’s a conundrum of Unionist principles vs UK nations It’s not been a huge while since a Conservative Government famously imposed its will on Scotland.The result was a massive revolt. And no – I’m not talking about the Independence Referendum. Under Margaret Thatcher they made the mistake of piloting the Community Charge (nicknamed the […]

Accountability & Brexit

2 different but significant points about accountability and the general debate on Brexit. FIRSTLY The existing UK Government is far from accountable on many things. Take Immigration as a major example. When the last changes were made, introducing the Tier-based system for non-EU immigrants, the primary legislation essentially made three key demands. a) That the […]

Morality? What Morality?

What morality? How would you have coached the people involved? A true tale of a global financial services organisation that offers wealth management facilities to private investors. In so doing they charge fees to deal with the paperwork and accounting associated with running a portfolio. Imagine then the scenario where, following a withdrawal instruction, they […]

Why is leadership seemingly so unintelligent?

I muse upon this in the aftermath of the recent election and installation of Pope Francis I.  Now what, I hear you ask, has this got to do with Leadership and Management or Intelligence?  Why is Leadership seemingly so unintelligent? Consider the following: We know (as modern science has explained) the origins of the universe […]

How Select should criticisms of banking culture be?

It appears that everyone is running around shouting about the latest financial services scandals (Libor/Euribor, Interest Rate Swaps).  Heads are being demanded on the proverbial platters but that seems to me to miss the underlying issue – banking culture.   Questioning Bob Diamond (late CEO of Barclays) in front of the Treasury Select Committee, Mark […]