You can’t handle the truth…
Tony Benn, the left wing Labour MP, wrote a book recently called Letters to my Grandchildren: Thoughts on the Future. In one of the letters he writes: "When your parents were your age, and the United States and Soviet Union were racing to land on the moon, the Russians put down a little robotic machine onto the lunar surface. One of my constituents in Bristol, where I was then the MP, wrote to me:
Dear Tony,
I see the Russians have put a space vehicle on the moon. Is there any chance of a better bus service in Bristol?"
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The Not-So Nuclear Deterrent
Under the old driving regulations in Ireland there was no 'points' system for speeding related offences - it was a purely financial based fines system. In old money, pre-Euro, it was around £30 punts, and latterly 50 euros for anything but obscene speeding offences. No wonder Ireland has had one of the worst records in Europe for driving accidents (although that record has improved in recent years along with the introduction of a points system).
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The Stress Test
One of the ironies of the recent oil spill debacle in the Gulf of Mexico is that the oil and gas industry is most often credited with devising and putting to use so-called scenario planning. This management tool is meant to anticipate major changes in the environment – from disaster to depression, to blown pipes in deepwater rigs – and to enable organizations to create plans for immediate strategic response. //Read More
The Fudge Factor
Over the past couple of years many millions of words have been written by a whole host of different commentators on the whys and wherefores of the global economic crisis. Some of those commentators are highly respected, some are less so, some are old and experienced and some less so. With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, however, much of this analysis isn't particularly revelationary - by and large it points to the same basic contributory factors: Global trade imbalances, excessively loose monetary policy, poorly regulated financial institutions, undercapitalised banks, and misaligned incentives for those running our financial institutions. All undoubtedly played their part.
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