Chancellor of the Exchequer, the only job in parliament that lets you drink alcohol at work, but only during the Budget speech… allegedly. Chancellor, the title alone sounds, “Old School”. You would expect every statement to be written at a desk fashioned from oak recovered from the HMS Victory, written on vellum with a large … Continued
When I was very young, I thought the Everest of technology was a “Slinky” the magical spring that could go downstairs. Roll forward a few years and it was the Sinclair ZX home computer (manufactured in Dundee by Timex). Now, we have Alexa running the home, the fridge ordering groceries, and mobile phones that can … Continued
Aviva and Age UK’s ‘Retirement Reality: Managing money in mid-retirement’ report highlighted a few worrying retirement statistics. Aviva and Age UK surveyed 1,000 mid-retirees (aged 65-75) who have a private pension and are on a moderate retirement income or have a final salary pension over £20,000 per year. Here are a few of the report’s … Continued
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one” – Albert Einstein . I’m sure there are many of us that remember the following mind-bending quote. “There are known knowns. These are things we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things we know we don’t know. But there … Continued
“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” – Mark Twain. Forgetting Mother’s Day is not recommended. I’ve never been able to work out when Mother’s day will appear in the calendar. So here it is. It is on the fourth Sunday of Lent, exactly three weeks … Continued
Suddenly my inbox is filled with financial predictions from the seers of the City. It takes me back to the years presenting our (Pru M&G’s) views for the year ahead. These are dangerous predictions to make, and seldom if ever correct. As Yogi Berra, the legendary baseball player and coach, famously said, “It’s tough to … Continued
“You can’t start a fire without a spark.” – Bruce Springsteen. In 1984 Bruce Springsteen released “Dancing in the Dark” one of his most famous songs. The lyrics include the line “You can’t start a fire without a spark.” He went on to release 21 studio albums and filled stadiums across the world for over … Continued
Torville and Dean achieved a perfect score in the 1984 Winter Olympics. Nadia Comaneci produced seven perfect 10s in Montreal’s Olympics in 1976. Perfection then, but now? In their book The Imperfectionists Charles Conn and Rob McLean, two McKinsey alumni, share observations on the challenges of a conventional approach to strategic planning. Imperfection may sound … Continued
How many of us order the same thing every time we go to our favourite place to eat? We may take time to look through the menu, explore the options, but end up ordering exactly the same thing we always do. My wife does this every time. I play the, “What’s he going to order … Continued
Words, language, lexicon all feature heavily in our fast moving, ever evolving world. I had never considered how our vocabularies could expand to reflect our daily experiences. I assumed our English language was ordered and protected by dictionaries whose role was to choose what words were real and just made up. Here is a quotation … Continued
