I have been thinking about fairness quite a lot. It is one of those things that has been rattling around in the back of my brain. But it always feels rather childlike to say 'it's not fair'. But there now seems to be step change in the unfairness of what is happening
I think that fairness has been coming under increasing pressure. We Brits like things to be fair (not that everyone has to have the same thing). I have a hunch that fairness is one of those fundamental parts of our culture. Without it, there is no legitimacy and anarchy lurks.
The broad sense of unfairness has been looming for a while. The actions of the banks have taken this to another stage and the pension of Sir Fred Goodwin seems to be on the verge of taking it a step further. I wonder if he realises how out of touch he is with the real world. It would appear not.
Ignoring the growing sense of injustice is worrying. Fairness has been coming under pressure from many sides - traffic rules that seem to be about revenue generation, fortnightly rubbish collection with rising council tax, decisions about war that seem to be based on less than half truths, the rich getting richer, the poor taxpayer footing the bill, small pressure points but all building up and feeling as if they might all soon come to a head. There are police predictions about riots and they seem to understand what is going on. I shall be foregoing barricade building until the weather improves. In the meantime I am going to read up about Wat Tyler. Smithfield anyone?
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Hidden workers
As I travelled around Britain I was fascinated to find out where everyone worked. There seemed to be lots of new houses. Small rural towns that I knew as a child now seemed to be ringed with housing estates, but there was no sign where everyone was working.
I am still struggling to work out where everyone works. I have been going through the government statistics which are interesting and give a few clues. Firstly how few people are working, the population is 61 million (give or take) but there are only 31 million economically active people (and that includes those who are unemployed but available for work). There are the young and the old who aren't working, but there are still lots of people not working.
Wholesale/retail is the largest single sector account for 4.5 million jobs, followed by 4.2 million people who are self-employed. There is then a category called 'rent and other business services' which accounts for a further 4.2 million; this is followed by 3.3 million people working in health and social work and 2.2 million in education. After this the numbers fall, there are (or were at the end of 2008) more estate agents than people employed in farming, fishing, forestry and the Armed Forces added together.
But the figures don't tell me that much. The big categories hide as much as they reveal. We seem to have become a nation of shoppers as well as shopkeepers, so the recession will bite hard and deep.
It's also struck me that lots of work is hidden work. We don't know what it takes to get the stuff we buy into the shops and perhaps that is where people are working. We recognise the person who takes the money and gives us the goods, but don't think about the finance department and the cleaners, the stylists and delivery drivers.
These days it is difficult to work out what people do from the clothes they wear. Perhaps it's a sign of changing times, but sometimes it's difficult to know exactly what it is that most of your friends are doing at work.
I am still struggling to work out where everyone works. I have been going through the government statistics which are interesting and give a few clues. Firstly how few people are working, the population is 61 million (give or take) but there are only 31 million economically active people (and that includes those who are unemployed but available for work). There are the young and the old who aren't working, but there are still lots of people not working.
Wholesale/retail is the largest single sector account for 4.5 million jobs, followed by 4.2 million people who are self-employed. There is then a category called 'rent and other business services' which accounts for a further 4.2 million; this is followed by 3.3 million people working in health and social work and 2.2 million in education. After this the numbers fall, there are (or were at the end of 2008) more estate agents than people employed in farming, fishing, forestry and the Armed Forces added together.
But the figures don't tell me that much. The big categories hide as much as they reveal. We seem to have become a nation of shoppers as well as shopkeepers, so the recession will bite hard and deep.
It's also struck me that lots of work is hidden work. We don't know what it takes to get the stuff we buy into the shops and perhaps that is where people are working. We recognise the person who takes the money and gives us the goods, but don't think about the finance department and the cleaners, the stylists and delivery drivers.
These days it is difficult to work out what people do from the clothes they wear. Perhaps it's a sign of changing times, but sometimes it's difficult to know exactly what it is that most of your friends are doing at work.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Depression or liberation?
I continue to plough through depressing economic predictions and it is hard to see how the 'big world' of finance can recover quickly. But there are cheering signs of how people are coping.
From my travels around Britain I had a strong sense that lots of people were getting bored with endless shopping, but it was difficult for them to talk about it. The discussion was all about designer this and that. It was all about leveraging assets, to save was to be foolish.
Interest in growing your own food was rising. Gardens and allotments were full of fruit and veg. Allotments were attracting a new generations of growers (albeit sometimes leading to different views of the traditional allotment holders). Today I hear that sales of sewing machines are booming and classes teaching people to knit and sew are filling up quickly. So it looks as if the economic future might be gloomy, but even so people might be able to have a good time on a budget.
After all, it is the people who matter most. It was interesting to watch how London changed in the snow.Everyone was forced to slow down, and suddenly people started to chat. The lack of public transport meant there were more people walking and chatting. It's largely back to 'normal' now, and most are plugged into their ipods once more.But for a day it was fun.
From my travels around Britain I had a strong sense that lots of people were getting bored with endless shopping, but it was difficult for them to talk about it. The discussion was all about designer this and that. It was all about leveraging assets, to save was to be foolish.
Interest in growing your own food was rising. Gardens and allotments were full of fruit and veg. Allotments were attracting a new generations of growers (albeit sometimes leading to different views of the traditional allotment holders). Today I hear that sales of sewing machines are booming and classes teaching people to knit and sew are filling up quickly. So it looks as if the economic future might be gloomy, but even so people might be able to have a good time on a budget.
After all, it is the people who matter most. It was interesting to watch how London changed in the snow.Everyone was forced to slow down, and suddenly people started to chat. The lack of public transport meant there were more people walking and chatting. It's largely back to 'normal' now, and most are plugged into their ipods once more.But for a day it was fun.
Monday, 2 February 2009
Risk and what happened to our money
As well as explaining the 2% rule Paul Ormerod also told me of an article he wrote about risk and why the economy all went wrong. This is a link to the article http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article360204
For at least half an hour after reading it I understood why the economy is in such a mess when most of us have continued to pay our mortgages.
Snow has provided the perfect day for staying in and writing. But I have been distracted by the scenes outside my window. Everything is white. This morning there were more people walking to work than cars. The buses had been sent to bed early and not allowed out all day. Despite the chaos most people seemed cheery, lots of cameras flashing to capture the moment, snowmen being built and over-excited children and slightly less excited adults.
For at least half an hour after reading it I understood why the economy is in such a mess when most of us have continued to pay our mortgages.
Snow has provided the perfect day for staying in and writing. But I have been distracted by the scenes outside my window. Everything is white. This morning there were more people walking to work than cars. The buses had been sent to bed early and not allowed out all day. Despite the chaos most people seemed cheery, lots of cameras flashing to capture the moment, snowmen being built and over-excited children and slightly less excited adults.
Friday, 30 January 2009
Unravelling the economy
As well as writing about Britain I am also writing about the outlook for the world over the next couple of years. I have been reading reams of articles and ploughing through drifts of data to try and understand what is going on. I have just heard someone on the radio say that J K Galbraith (economist who wrote about the depression of the 1930s) describing economic forecasting as something that astrology look respectable. For me, this is cheering news as I was wondering about adding predictions about being in the year of Ox to the otherwise gloomy list. (Year of the Ox means determined hard work, small gains and steady progress - compared to most forecasts this is positively optimistic).
Anyway, having looked at the economic statistics I wondered why the news is so negative when the overall falls in the economy as relatively small. Even the latest IMF figures are expecting only a few percentage point falls. Why if 96% of the spending continues does the missing 4% make such a difference.
Luckily for me I went to a party and managed to talk to a well-respected economist about this (which has saved me days of trying to read economic text books). He explained that in Europe if we have less than 2% growth then jobs will be lost. Apparently ongoing efficiency measures mean that there tends to be 2% increase in efficiency each year and that usually means fewer jobs. So if growth is less than 2% then lots of people tend to lose their job. And that is where we are at the moment.
I am still going to concentrate on the 90+% of the economy that is still there. For those who have lost their or don't have a regular income (self-employed etc) then there is good reason to stop spending. But for those with a job and a regular income, please go and do some shopping. Your country needs you to shop.
Anyway, having looked at the economic statistics I wondered why the news is so negative when the overall falls in the economy as relatively small. Even the latest IMF figures are expecting only a few percentage point falls. Why if 96% of the spending continues does the missing 4% make such a difference.
Luckily for me I went to a party and managed to talk to a well-respected economist about this (which has saved me days of trying to read economic text books). He explained that in Europe if we have less than 2% growth then jobs will be lost. Apparently ongoing efficiency measures mean that there tends to be 2% increase in efficiency each year and that usually means fewer jobs. So if growth is less than 2% then lots of people tend to lose their job. And that is where we are at the moment.
I am still going to concentrate on the 90+% of the economy that is still there. For those who have lost their or don't have a regular income (self-employed etc) then there is good reason to stop spending. But for those with a job and a regular income, please go and do some shopping. Your country needs you to shop.
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Lost?
In order to get on and write this book I have joined a writing group. And it's been a transformation to be able to talk with fellow writers. They have provided a fantastic support system and sounding board. This weekend we had our final seminar. One of the exercises was to write about something that we'd lost from our project. I sat down to think. How could one write about something not there.
Then suddenly my brain sprang into action. I had lost of the key themes I was supposed to be writing about. It's there in the text, but hidden away. The irony is that the missing theme is 'attention'. I hadn't been paying attention to myself.
As I travelled around Britain it struck me what social beings we are and how much we need the attention of others to thrive. People seem to write much more about individuality and selfishness than about sociability and our need for connection. It seems that this need for attention is built into us. I watched babies try to capture the attention of everyone. Trying to make eye contact with mothers distracted by phones and friends. But the babies seemed happy enough to try and find other people with whom to connect. The lady at the checkout, the person standing behind their mum. I wonder what impact the new double decker pushchairs will have. They may me feel claustrophobic to look at them.
It's funny that we are all taught how to present ourselves but not how to listen. I once wrote a paper about creativity, saying that it needs people to listen. But most people read 'listen' as 'talk'. Not the same thing. Perhaps it's the current fashion for treating life as a business. If we try and be productive and dynamic all the time then there is lots of talking and much less listening.
I realise that in writing this blog post, I am talking rather than listening. It is one of the strange paradoxes of this new world of technology that there are more opportunities to talk but fewer people with time to listen.
But we all know how nice it is when someone else really listens and pays attention to us. And most can tell the difference between the apparent listening of customer service standards and the real listening. For someone to pay attention is to acknowledge you. You the person. I have a hunch that many of the most disruptive in society are those who feel that they are invisible and unvalued by society. The need for attention is so strong that even scorn is better than being ignored.
But there was I not paying enough attention to myself. So what is it within you that needs a little more attention?
Then suddenly my brain sprang into action. I had lost of the key themes I was supposed to be writing about. It's there in the text, but hidden away. The irony is that the missing theme is 'attention'. I hadn't been paying attention to myself.
As I travelled around Britain it struck me what social beings we are and how much we need the attention of others to thrive. People seem to write much more about individuality and selfishness than about sociability and our need for connection. It seems that this need for attention is built into us. I watched babies try to capture the attention of everyone. Trying to make eye contact with mothers distracted by phones and friends. But the babies seemed happy enough to try and find other people with whom to connect. The lady at the checkout, the person standing behind their mum. I wonder what impact the new double decker pushchairs will have. They may me feel claustrophobic to look at them.
It's funny that we are all taught how to present ourselves but not how to listen. I once wrote a paper about creativity, saying that it needs people to listen. But most people read 'listen' as 'talk'. Not the same thing. Perhaps it's the current fashion for treating life as a business. If we try and be productive and dynamic all the time then there is lots of talking and much less listening.
I realise that in writing this blog post, I am talking rather than listening. It is one of the strange paradoxes of this new world of technology that there are more opportunities to talk but fewer people with time to listen.
But we all know how nice it is when someone else really listens and pays attention to us. And most can tell the difference between the apparent listening of customer service standards and the real listening. For someone to pay attention is to acknowledge you. You the person. I have a hunch that many of the most disruptive in society are those who feel that they are invisible and unvalued by society. The need for attention is so strong that even scorn is better than being ignored.
But there was I not paying enough attention to myself. So what is it within you that needs a little more attention?
Friday, 23 January 2009
Britain
I have to write about what the world is coming to. All the reading I'm doing is making it all sound very scary. But the at the moment the sky is blue and the bulbs in my window box are beginning to peer throw. Should I see this as a sign of optimism? Or just be very worried about what is happening to the economy? For now, I think I'll concentrate on the bulbs.
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