Spoiler alert. I have been reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I still am, it is a long book yet it has left me in a dilemma. At times I think it is the most fantastic of books while at others I don’t agree with some of the sentiments it contains. Perhaps that is the … Continue reading Atlas Shrugged
Convenience sells, convenience costs
In an earlier blog I said that subject of ethics in business had been occupying my mind, especially the failure of Carillion and the noise around the use of single use plastics. I wrote about Carillion in the earlier piece and so I am coming back to plastics. Pollution caused by waste plastics has been … Continue reading Convenience sells, convenience costs
Ethics and Carillion
The subject of ethics in business is never very far from my mind these days. I am reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, which gives an exciting ride through some of the pros and cons of big business and its detractors, and had my first meeting with the board of the North East Initiative on … Continue reading Ethics and Carillion
Strike
I have never been on strike, even when the councils where I worked were on strike I felt it was my duty to go into work. I was in two minds about the merits of striking then and, as I sit on a very cold platform at Morpeth station as the Northern Rail workers are … Continue reading Strike
The organizations we deserve
Businesses must operate within the law and within ethical principles. Ironically that is what the law states yet in the sordid grapple for money, status and power sometime things go awry. Motor manufacturers meddle with their emission figures to make their cars look better, online taxi firms undermine the working conditions of their employees to … Continue reading The organizations we deserve
Milton Friedman is out of time
The current economic and social system in which we live, at least here in the anglo-american parts of the globe, is coming to an end. News of its demise may be a little premature yet I can hear its rattle. It is simply unsustainable. Inequality in wealth is growing both in absolute and relative terms. … Continue reading Milton Friedman is out of time
Storms of inequality
The storm clouds are gathering once again. This season seems to be one of the worst on record for bad weather in the Atlantic with hurricane Harvey, Irma and soon Jose battering the islands of the Gulf of Mexico and the southern United States. Just so you know, two-thirds of the strongest hurricanes (Class 4 … Continue reading Storms of inequality
Sentiment in business
When I started out in the motor trade it was my job to drive around the highways and byways of Oxfordshire, calling on garages and other motoring establishments and try to sell them stuff. I am not sure I was ever that good at it though they were some of my most formative years. There … Continue reading Sentiment in business
There is nothing more important than culture
I have had a good run on my blog recently. I don’t know why. I just try to do my thing. May this year is already as good as last year in terms of numbers of reads but I mustn’t let these things get to me. I write for the pleasure and not necessarily to … Continue reading There is nothing more important than culture
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 