Does A Country, Company Or Organisation Need A Woman At The Top?
There has been a lot of news today about the release under the thirty-year-rule of secret documents concerning Margaret Thatcher and various subjects like the Falklands War, Jimmy Savile and her son, Mark.
Nothing is particularly contentious, except perhaps the fact that someone misjudged what was happening in Argentina and gave Mrs. Thatcher bad information. But then the Secret Intelligence Service, didn’t give Tony Blair the best information either.
On the other hand, when dealing with Mark lost in the desert, she seems to have acted to make sure that the state didn’t pay for her son’s folly.
If we go through the history of the United Kingdom, you’ll find that at various dark hours, women have been to the fore. You could start a list with Boudicca, Elizabeth the First, Victoria and Margaret Thatcher. You could argue that our current Queen has been a safe pair of hands for most of her life. She was also part of that vast army of women, who stepped in to fill the gaps in the factories, in transport and as support staff during the Second World War. Hitler didn’t mobilise the German women and he of course lost. Some historians say the mobilisation of women in the UK, was a major factor.
I would argue that you don’t need to have a woman at the top,but once you have, it changes a lot of the culture, even if it’s just other talented women believe they can get there. And competition is always healthy, as it promotes the best!
Look at Margaret Thatcher’s effect on British politics. Before her stint as Prime Minister, there were few women at the top in British politics and there have been a lot more since she resigned.
Look at the basket cases of the Eurozone! How many of them have had a woman Prime Minister or President. Only Ireland and that is the one country in trouble, that is making progress towards sorting its finances.
A Good Reason To Avoid Facebook
I do anyway, but their tax position, seems to be in line with Starbucks, Amazon and Google according to this report.
In fact, it’s rapidly getting to the point, where using a large company reduces tax revenues. Although, it does seem that American companies are the best at finding ways of avoiding paying tax. Or should that be worst?
If you think I’m being sanctimonious here, I once paid a tax bill of £3,500,000. If you don’t believe me, I have the cheque on the wall to prove it. I could have avoided the tax bill, by going to live in Monaco or somewhere equally boring for a few years. But then this country has so many good things, that I’d miss.
Wonga Move Into Credit Card Territory
According to this article from the BBC, Wonga are moving into credit card and web fulfilment territory with their latest service called PayLater.
Although, I’m not a fan of Wonga, it could be a good idea, provided they moderate their interest rates.
Would I like to see someone like Zopa or Ratesetter doing the same? Only of course, if they didn’t relax their credit checks.
After all, for years, with many products and some big purchases like cars, finance has been an integral part of the process.
The trouble with something like Zopa doing this, could be, that if the loan is turned down, then the sale could be lost.
But Wonga’s thinking does show how the banks and credit card companies are getting it in the neck from the new financial innovators.
Businesses Get Bees On The Roof
I first saw this in The Times concerning law firm, Olswang.
But there is also an old video story about it on the BBC’s web site.
It obviously seems to be a good idea, as it seems to be catching on.
Zopa And Funding Circle Get Government Funding
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that Zopa and Funding Circle are going to get tranches of funds to invest from the Government.
I very much applaud this move as although the sums are quite small at ten and twenty million pounds respectively for each, the government’s seal of approval can only help the growth of this form of lending. To put these sums in context, Zopa has lent over a quarter of a billion pounds and currently around thirty million is available to borrowers.
But surely the biggest boost is that with this extra funding, the publicity will drive more credit-worthy borrowers into the arms of Zopa and Funding Circle.
My only worry is a selfish one, that the interest rates available will drop because of the extra funds.
I certainly wouldn’t like to be holding any shares in a traditional bank.
I shall also be watching the return, that I’m getting on my money in Zopa.
Always Say No To A Bank
According to this article in the Telegraph, the banks are being told to cut down on commission-based selling to their customers.
I never buy anything from a bank. If I could find a pure money transfer company to manage my current account, I might move.
Banks should be made to publish anonymously the salary details of all employees, including all of their benefits and commissions in a form that could be downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet.
That would sort the problem out, as millions would analyse the results in great detail! It might even force some banks to withdraw from the market and we could have more coffee shops, bars and restaurants in good quality buildings.
Did My Protest Work?
It is being reported that Starbucks are now going to pay more Corporation Tax.
Since the storm broke, I’ve not used a large chain of coffee shops, although I have popped into Carluccio’s for the odd cappuccino.
I wonder how many other people have adopted a similar boycott?
It’ll be interesting to see the accounts of the chains as they emerge!
On a related point, I was talking to an American a few days ago, and they didn’t like the way Starbucks behaved on the other side of the pond.
English Councils Have Large Reserves
This article on the BBC shocked me. I always get the impression that councils are strapped for cash, but the Audit Commission says that they have £13 billion in reserves.
The councils should take a leaf out of this widower’s book and put it into peer-to-peer lending in their own area. I proposed putting a regional element into something like Zopa here.
They might lose the odd bit, but it would be safer than putting the money in an Icelandic bank.
A Predictable Autumn Statement
Predictable in that it was more of the same, even if you don’t like one or more of bankers, large corporations, benefit claimants, pensioners, unions or drivers. I don’t like at least three!
Some taxes and allowances went up and some went down. Was it ever any different?
We need some radical ideas to get the economy going?
Take these statements which are more or less agreed policy between all the major parties.
1. Banks should lend more to individuals and businesses, so that they purchase capital goods and services.
2. Savers should get a better return on their money.
3. The banks should have more capital reserves.
Point 3 is the elephant in the room, as any money the banks get goes on salaries or to improve their balance sheet rather than more lending.
So let’s leave it out and go to peer-to-peer lending, where borrowers and savers are put in touch by intelligent computer systems.
The Chancellor didn’t take the radical route and help peer-to-peer lending at the expense of the banks. After all if he did, the price of all those Government bank shares would drop. So as they will continue to lose value, wouldn’t it have been better if Gordon Brown had done the prudent thing and put them down, when they went bust?
But then Labour would never have got another vote in Scotland. As it is, Labour doesn’t seem to get many!
Should Starbucks Pay More Tax?
As a High Street company I would prefer that they set up a system like Waitrose has done with Community Matters, where local charities are chosen by customers to benefit from a levy on takings.
After all, Governments have a record of wasting our taxes on things that a proportion of us don’t want. We all have our pet hates and mine is probably the money government wastes on defence and computer projects.
The Anonymous Widower 