George Osborne is getting it in the neck for not getting Britain’s economy roaring ahead.
But is the Government the only agency which can sort it out? I thought we were a light-touch, small government, fast-on-our-feet sort of country. Shouldn’t entrepreneurs, banks and other bright sparks be doing things which make them rich and us successful?
In China, the government directs everything and jumps on people who complain.
In the UK, the Government lets businesses direct lots of stuff - trains, electricity and gas, waste, and now, schools, colleges and hospitals. And we can, and do, complain all the time.
Why can’t we get ourselves out of the recession without the Government’s help?
Monday, 28 January 2013
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Us and them
Our politicians and our popular press just don’t get Europe.
They see it as foreigners interfering in our affairs.
Germany, France and the other people who do get Europe see it as a terrific opportunity to do things together, rather than separately.
Our lot see it in terms of ‘What’s in it for us?’. The enlightened majority in Europe see it as ‘What can we do for all of us?’
Cameron doesn’t want Europe doing things for us, yet he goes to the G8 summit and says G8 must do something to deal with multi-national companies dodging tax. Isn’t this something Europe could do more effectively than a single country can do on its own?
It’s fascinating. The arguments being used for the UK breaking away from Europe are exactly the same as the arguments the Scots are using for breaking away from the UK. But the UK going alone is seen as good whereas the Scots going alone is seen as bad.
I like change. I want the Scots to try it on their own. I’d love the Northern Irish to do the same.
I’d like England to be a full member of a federal Europe.
According to the politicians, I’m in a minority. Am I? Maybe a referendum would show there are more like me.
They see it as foreigners interfering in our affairs.
Germany, France and the other people who do get Europe see it as a terrific opportunity to do things together, rather than separately.
Our lot see it in terms of ‘What’s in it for us?’. The enlightened majority in Europe see it as ‘What can we do for all of us?’
Cameron doesn’t want Europe doing things for us, yet he goes to the G8 summit and says G8 must do something to deal with multi-national companies dodging tax. Isn’t this something Europe could do more effectively than a single country can do on its own?
It’s fascinating. The arguments being used for the UK breaking away from Europe are exactly the same as the arguments the Scots are using for breaking away from the UK. But the UK going alone is seen as good whereas the Scots going alone is seen as bad.
I like change. I want the Scots to try it on their own. I’d love the Northern Irish to do the same.
I’d like England to be a full member of a federal Europe.
According to the politicians, I’m in a minority. Am I? Maybe a referendum would show there are more like me.
Monday, 31 December 2012
Hares and tortoises
I’ve changed my mind about tax. When I heard that Amazon, Starbucks and others were paying minimal tax, my knee-jerk response was to dump Amazon and do my Christmas shopping elsewhere. I couldn’t dump Starbucks because I prefer Costa and Nero.
The Christmas presents arrived, but not quite as quickly, or as well-packaged as Amazon do. So why was I punishing Amazon for being cleverer? The Government doesn’t do what it does as well as Amazon does retail
The successful international companies operate above individual governments.
Starbucks and Amazon show what can be achieved by looking at the global picture rather than saying: in England we work this way, in France cette mode and so on.
Successful companies constantly review how they do what they do. If they stand still, some bright spark in Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai or Shanghai will disrupt their market faster than a speeding bullet.
Governments are concerned only with their country, their voters and are hamstrung by special interest groups who threaten to vote for the other lot if anything changes. We in Britain are the best example of this. Join forces with Europe? Not likely. Improve the way we run the Health Service, the BBC, our local councils? Heaven forbid.
If politicians want international companies to pay more tax, they must become cleverer.
Simplify the tax system. Look at how the world works, not simply how we in Britain work.
Work out how to attract international companies and see the benefit of having them here in terms of jobs and business, not just tax.
Europe has more success with international companies than we do because it is more beneficial for a company to deal with Europe than with individual governments.
Whipping up anger about international companies not paying tax doesn’t achieve anything. Working out how to keep pace with the cleverest companies in the world would.
The Christmas presents arrived, but not quite as quickly, or as well-packaged as Amazon do. So why was I punishing Amazon for being cleverer? The Government doesn’t do what it does as well as Amazon does retail
The successful international companies operate above individual governments.
Starbucks and Amazon show what can be achieved by looking at the global picture rather than saying: in England we work this way, in France cette mode and so on.
Successful companies constantly review how they do what they do. If they stand still, some bright spark in Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai or Shanghai will disrupt their market faster than a speeding bullet.
Governments are concerned only with their country, their voters and are hamstrung by special interest groups who threaten to vote for the other lot if anything changes. We in Britain are the best example of this. Join forces with Europe? Not likely. Improve the way we run the Health Service, the BBC, our local councils? Heaven forbid.
If politicians want international companies to pay more tax, they must become cleverer.
Simplify the tax system. Look at how the world works, not simply how we in Britain work.
Work out how to attract international companies and see the benefit of having them here in terms of jobs and business, not just tax.
Europe has more success with international companies than we do because it is more beneficial for a company to deal with Europe than with individual governments.
Whipping up anger about international companies not paying tax doesn’t achieve anything. Working out how to keep pace with the cleverest companies in the world would.
Friday, 28 December 2012
Driving skill
London has great public transport. Trains, tubes, buses get millions of people where they want to go every day.
On Boxing Day we saw the best and worst of this.
The worst were the ASLEF train drivers who went on strike because the generous wages they get are not enough to get them out of bed on a bank holiday.
The best were the bus drivers who packed in as many of us as possible and got us to and from our sales, our football matches and our tourist sites.
Driving a Tube train is easy - so easy it can be automated. Driverless trains are operating now and will be the norm in a few years.
Driving a bus is difficult. You share the road with car drivers who don’t know which lane to be in, cyclists who wear black at night and come up the inside and pedestrians who get drunk and wander into the road.
The men and women who drive buses are, like the people who drive big trucks, skillful, calm and courteous. They are better drivers than the rest of us.
The Association of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen are not engineers or firemen. They are the skills we needed when steam trains ran. We don’t need those skills today.
Nor do we need the union belief of the 1970s that going on strike forces employers to pay higher wages.
It should be clear by now to even the locomotive engineers and firemen that going on strike forces employers to work out how to use technology to replace you.
On Boxing Day we saw the best and worst of this.
The worst were the ASLEF train drivers who went on strike because the generous wages they get are not enough to get them out of bed on a bank holiday.
The best were the bus drivers who packed in as many of us as possible and got us to and from our sales, our football matches and our tourist sites.
Driving a Tube train is easy - so easy it can be automated. Driverless trains are operating now and will be the norm in a few years.
Driving a bus is difficult. You share the road with car drivers who don’t know which lane to be in, cyclists who wear black at night and come up the inside and pedestrians who get drunk and wander into the road.
The men and women who drive buses are, like the people who drive big trucks, skillful, calm and courteous. They are better drivers than the rest of us.
The Association of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen are not engineers or firemen. They are the skills we needed when steam trains ran. We don’t need those skills today.
Nor do we need the union belief of the 1970s that going on strike forces employers to pay higher wages.
It should be clear by now to even the locomotive engineers and firemen that going on strike forces employers to work out how to use technology to replace you.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Pots and kettles
I see the payday lenders are being criticised for letting people take out loan after loan when it is clear they cannot pay the money back.
Isn’t this what every Western government has been doing for years?
Isn’t this what every Western government has been doing for years?
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Why don't my e-books play video?
I read books on screen. It is convenient, simple and cheap.
But why are e-books not designed?
If I buy a book in a bookshop, it will have a particular typeface and chapter headings.
If there are pictures, they will appear at the relevant point in the narrative and they will probably fill a page.
If I read the same book on my Kindle, the typeface is in one of the Kindle’s standard typefaces, as are the chapter headings. And the pictures, if they appear at all, will appear as tiny images, sometimes all together the end of the book.
Why don’t publishers take advantage of the new medium and use video instead of the static pictures in a physical book? Why no sounds files in my Leiber and Stoller biography?
Why is the index not displayed as clickable links to take me to the relevant page?
Is it that publishers see e-books as an annoyance, something cheap and tawdry which is eating into their traditional business?
They would do better to see them as an opportunity.
If video and sound would make a book too large to download in a reasonable time, why not store the video and sound files in a cloud and give people who buy the book at the publisher’s price, or with the publisher’s app, access to them.
I want to hear Riot in cell block #9 when I read my Leiber and Stoller autobiography.
I want to see Bobby Charlton scoring when I read The footballer who could fly.
I want to see Eddy Merckx flying up mountains when I read Half man half bike.
Come on publishers, bring books up to date.
But why are e-books not designed?
If I buy a book in a bookshop, it will have a particular typeface and chapter headings.
If there are pictures, they will appear at the relevant point in the narrative and they will probably fill a page.
If I read the same book on my Kindle, the typeface is in one of the Kindle’s standard typefaces, as are the chapter headings. And the pictures, if they appear at all, will appear as tiny images, sometimes all together the end of the book.
Why don’t publishers take advantage of the new medium and use video instead of the static pictures in a physical book? Why no sounds files in my Leiber and Stoller biography?
Why is the index not displayed as clickable links to take me to the relevant page?
Is it that publishers see e-books as an annoyance, something cheap and tawdry which is eating into their traditional business?
They would do better to see them as an opportunity.
If video and sound would make a book too large to download in a reasonable time, why not store the video and sound files in a cloud and give people who buy the book at the publisher’s price, or with the publisher’s app, access to them.
I want to hear Riot in cell block #9 when I read my Leiber and Stoller autobiography.
I want to see Bobby Charlton scoring when I read The footballer who could fly.
I want to see Eddy Merckx flying up mountains when I read Half man half bike.
Come on publishers, bring books up to date.
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Seeing through the Windows
Windows 8 is interesting. It moves away from the traditional Windows Start menu and into the world of clickable icons.
For decades Microsoft have made millions because the world has been compatible with Windows.
Most companies use Windows, so most commercial software is created to run on Windows.
Windows is on most of the computers we buy to use at home, so most of the software written for people at home has been created to run on Windows.
And most of the printers, scanners, cameras and other devices we buy come with software created to run on Windows.
The world works on Windows.
Or it did until Steve Jobs showed non-geeks how to download music and Google’s Android made millions of phones cool.
Now people are as happy to touch apps as they are to start a program from a menu. The Windows spell has been broken.
I bet there are more programmers writing software for iPads and Androids than there are writing code to work on Windows PCs.
Windows 8 shows Microsoft have accepted this. Why is it taking so long for the people who make printers and other peripheral bits of kit to provide an app as well as a Windows CD for people to set them up and use them?
For decades Microsoft have made millions because the world has been compatible with Windows.
Most companies use Windows, so most commercial software is created to run on Windows.
Windows is on most of the computers we buy to use at home, so most of the software written for people at home has been created to run on Windows.
And most of the printers, scanners, cameras and other devices we buy come with software created to run on Windows.
The world works on Windows.
Or it did until Steve Jobs showed non-geeks how to download music and Google’s Android made millions of phones cool.
Now people are as happy to touch apps as they are to start a program from a menu. The Windows spell has been broken.
I bet there are more programmers writing software for iPads and Androids than there are writing code to work on Windows PCs.
Windows 8 shows Microsoft have accepted this. Why is it taking so long for the people who make printers and other peripheral bits of kit to provide an app as well as a Windows CD for people to set them up and use them?
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