The sources of pressure increase unremittingly. They have been variously ascribed to The Climate Crisis, Covid-19, the Delta Variant, The Shortage of Chips, Mail Order Purchasing Growth, WFH, Draconian Privacy Laws, Former President Trump, President Biden, The Rarity of Rare Earth, The Collapse of The Hospitality and Travel Industry, Too Many EMails, Too Many WhatsApps,…
Read more
The dangerous and self-destructive withdrawal from Afghanistan by the US is exactly what we did not want from a new President struggling to right many of the wrons left by his predecessor. Its coincidence with the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre Twin Towers reminds us of the major starting…
Read more
The rush of recognition of the mental health problem, always with us but precipitated by the pandemic, has led to a plethora of articles on the subject. I haven’t read them all but I have read several of them, from the great consultants to the local newspaper reporter’s offering. On the whole they are disappointing.…
Read more
“We are all scared and we are scared to our bones.” – The BBC, 19 August 2021, quoting a young female Kabul University student. I am not going to write a lecture on blame. The exit of American and British and other troops from Afghanistan had to take place sometime. Whether now was the right…
Read more
What is ‘money’? At its most basic, money is a technology that stores and transfers value over time and space. To do this effectively, an ideal money should be durable, portable, fungible, divisible and scarce. The type of money societies choose to use over time is an evolutionary process judged along these desirable traits –…
Read more
The only sensible answer to President Biden’s question “Shall I withdraw from Afghanistan?” was “I wouldn’t start now?”. You cannot ‘withdraw’ from a war, you can only give up on it. Which is what he has done. In the safe and secure knowledge that he had to, sometime, and the bullet was probably no more…
Read more
Covid has robbed us of many things – loved ones who died, family and friends who have been sick, some with very slow recovery, income – and opportunities to spend on what we like to do and have, the chance to travel and the learning that goes with it. You add to the list. I…
Read more
Employers are struggling to reboot their workforce. I understand why. Many people have been working from home, found it convenient and cosy to do so and don’t want to go back to the office. Some, like the financial world, have responded by insisting on five days a week at the office. Others have compromised and…
Read more
Dear Singapore I write this letter as I turn 89 for two reasons. First I want to thank you; second I want to tell you why Singapore has been so important to me, as it has been to many people. By way of background, the first visit I paid to Singapore was in 1975. In…
Read more
“A report for Credit Suisse into the implosion of Bill Hwang’s hedge fund Archegos should spawn a term: Zurich Syndrome. This would denote the psychological capture of bankers by a dangerous client they have fooled themselves into trusting.” Financial Times 30Jul21 Something dreadful happened to Credit Suisse, something no 21st Century company, let alone a…
Read more