This Should Never Happen Again
The case of Dr. Eva Michalak should never happen again. Reading the story in The Times and on the BBC, it seems that the doctor did nothing wrong in her work, except decide to have a baby. That seemed to arouse the ire and vindictiveness of her colleagues and quite rightly, she has got a settlement to compensate for the career they destroyed.
My main problem with this case, is that it would appear that none of her colleagues, have been disciplined in any way. That may not be the case, but as in so many cases like this secrecy may have been used to protect the guilty.
Every person, who runs a large company or organisation, has a duty to all their employees to make sure things like this don’t happen. It could also be argued that they must manage the organisation, so that no employee is pushed into a position, that will cost their company a lot of money. Is the Chief Executive still employed by the Trust? I hope not!
Michael Spencer’s Thoughts on the Drachma and Taxation
Michael Spencer is the CEO of ICAP and someone whose business judgement I respect. He’s also a man with strong Suffolk connections, which is always a plus point.
An article with the headline of “Spencer ready for return of drachma”, sums up his view on what to do, if or when Greece falls out of the euro.
He s also very forthright on what would happen if the financial transaction tax is imposed on the City.
After reading the article though, I suspect it will never be levied, as everybody has too much to lose. Except of course countries like Dubai, who’d laugh all the way to the bank, if it was implemented in substantial parts of the world.
One thing I like about Mr. Spencer, is that his company does its bit for charity. Here’s their page.
If you can get a copy of the article, read it!
If you look at ICAP’s major competitors, they are either in London or based in the United States. Not one is based on German or French soil. So if the European Union brought in a unilateral transaction zone and the UK didn’t levy it, they’d raise precisely zilch. Would banks like Deutsche Bank do their business in Frankfurt, when they could do it cheaper in New York? Of course they would!
Rail Ticket Machines
The on-line rail ticket system is good, in that you can pick up your tickets from any machine you want, anywhere in the UK. They do ask you to nominate a specfic one, but I generally use the ones in Kings Cross, as they are convenient for me and are often not very busy, as there are lots of them. They are also slightly more private than some I could name.
The biggest problem is that you need to type in a randomly generated transaction number. I usually text it to my mobile phone, so that when I look at the Inbox, all I see is the numbers of tickets I need to collect, so I can hold the phone in my left hand, whilst I type with my right.
The system could be improved, by allowing you to type in a collection code, when you buy your ticket on-line. So for East Coast, you might use EC and the last four digits of your phone number. As to get the tickets, you’d need to put in the right credit card, that would probably be as secure as the current system. In fact it could be more so, as I’ve seen people take little bits of paper out of their wallet and then read the code, whilst they type it. Some machines have a Qwerty keyboard, which can be difficult for those who don’t type too well.
It would of course mean that collecting multiple tickets, as I’m doing all the time at the moment would be very easy, as I’d use the same code.
So I would end up with a pile of little orange cards, that I’d have to check before I left the station. But that happems now. It’s just that I have to type in several numbers instead of one.
I would also like to see the fact that the ticket had been collected acknowledged to me in an e-mail. That way mistakes and fraud would be spotted earlier.
And why not have a few chairs by the machines so that some like me could sit down and sort everything out.
Was It The Cat?
UBS has discovered some unauthorised trading according to this report.
I’ve heard some interesting stories.
In one a trader typed in the value he wanted to trade. He then went home and left the computer switched on, with the value still there. The cleaner then dusted his desk and accidentally did the trade.
Or that’s what they think happened. Luckily the guy who sorted it out made a profit on the deal.
In another incident, it was the cat that stepped on the keyboard. Or that was the explanation to explain the loss!
In both cases though the software should have picked up the inactivity and shut the computer down.
Avon Is 125 Today
Avon is 125 this week.
I suppose they know that some of their products have unusual uses. One is a good part of a home made fly repellant for horses.
Liverpool’s Commercial District
Most people forget that Liverpool was and still is in many ways, a prosperous commercial city.
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- Oriel Chambers
I took these pictures as I walked round the city on Saturday morning, before I departed for Blackpool to see Ipswich.
Some of the buildings in the pictures like Liverpool Town Hall and Oriel Chambers are by any standard, some of the best commercial or civic buildings in the country.
Everything Everywhere
Mickey Clarke is one of the presenters of the BBC’s early morning business program, Wake Up To Money.
He remarked that he’d never heard of the mobile phone company, Everything Everywhere.
I hadn’t until a few weeks ago, noticed them either.
It does seem that they haven’t done much to successfully raise brand awareness.
Rolls-Royce Move Into Tidal Power
It is being reported that Rolls-Royce has moved into tidal power generation after the acquisition of Tidal Generation Ltd. There are some details here.
I know I keep bringing the Balaena up on this blog. But this surely is another place where the technology could be used. An appropriately sized column-like Balaena could be an ideal mount for the turbine.
Is Fred Goodwin a Coeliac?
The reason I ask this question, is that we have one important thing in common; we both hate pink vanilla wafer biscuits. In my case, I’ve avoided them all my life even before I was diagnosed as a coeliac and of course can’t eat the normal ones now. But I’d never write an e-mail about it, as Fred did and I reported here.
But hope is at hand, as Sainsburys are now selling Pink Panther gluten free vanilla wafers.
Who’s to know, if Fred might have liked them? If he had, the train crash that was RBS might not have happened.
It’s All About The Markets
There is a lot of doom and gloom in the markets, as this report says.
To me the markets have become one gigantic fruit machine, run not for the benefit of the companies and investors, but for the middle men. Did you ever see a financial advisor on a bicycle?
Remember the Stock Exchange was setup originally so that businesses who needed to expand could raise money to do so. Those who invested got a return on their money, with the higher returns coming from the more risky investments. It’s about time the Stock Exchange got back to basics.
An old friend, Phil, long since dead, and myself put forward the principle of a company called Very Dodgy Investments, which would only invest in blue chip stocks like GEC. We never had the guts to start it, but GEC went into melt-down soon afterwards, despite having been one of the most cash-rich and solid companies a few years before.
Over the last few years, I’ve come to the conclusion, that a company is only as good as the person who pulls the strings, no matter what the figures look like. Just as with GEC at its pomp, you might not have liked some of Lord Weinstock’s methods, you couldn’t fault the returns you got by investing. The same could be said of other companies and the people who led or now lead them.
But look at some of the banks of recent years. Someone, often with lots of charisma and no sense, have proved that what goes up must come down and have undone many decades of prudent management. Generally by greed. Whoever said Greed is Good was wrong! Wanting to be rich and then working out how you do it, by perhaps inventing something and/or lots of hard work is good. Provided you don’t step over the line of what is morally bad.
But generally the one group of people you can trust is the men and women on the street. Not everyone has of course a good credit rating, but those that have one can generally be someone, who is worth supporting. This principle has been used by reputable banks and building societies to make money for years. It is even being exploited by the government in turning the bad loans of Northern Rock round. People would prefer to pay their loans rather than lose their house, even when the consequences might not be that bad in all cases of default.
Some companies, like those who charge high rates for payday loans also take advantage of the good nature of the person on the Dalston Omnibus. There must be half a dozen of these companies on the Kingsland Road near me.
This principle is one of the reasons I support Zopa. With them, the element of trust also works both ways and to and from the company.
Lenders know that their money will be lent out at the rate they ask for, but they know if they want a too high rate, the money may take some time to be lent.
Borrowers know the consequences of not paying and generally do pay, although there is a proportion of bad debt. They also know that the terms and conditions are as fair as they ever are in the financial services industry.
But I would never recommend Zopa directly to anyone. Look at the company and understand how the system works. Only when you are satisfied with what you see, should you make a judgement.
But I will say one thing. Put a note in your diary for ten years from now to look at what Zopa has become!
I’ll also say one last thing about the markets. Who tell you to invest in the Stock Market? Journalists, who work for so-called reputable newspapers! And possibly others with similar vested interests, but no money of their own.
You might ask why I invested in Zopa. I’m a Control Engineer by University Education, a Computer Programmer by work experience and someone who likes those behind an idea to have a proven record amongst many things. Zopa ticked all of my boxes and felt it was worth investing the money I got from selling my late wife’s Porsche Boxster. It wasn’t even the world’s third best car anyway!
It’s been a case of so far, so good! But Zopa for me has outperformed the Stock Market.
The Anonymous Widower 