While writing Labour’s new Red Lines, I looked at Common Market 2.0 which promises to exit the Common Fisheries Policy. How can we do that? The British quotas were sold and bought by other EU member entities. Who’s going to compensate the current quota holders? Are we to return to the Cod Wars because the EU is not Iceland and the French by themselves now have more surface warships than the Royal Navy. …
The fact is that May’s Govt. cannot make progress on its programme, it should resign! The fact it doesn’t have to is another sign of the brokenness of the British Constitution. …
One of the problems with the vitriol issued by Labour’s Lexiters and self declared ultra loyalists over the issue of a “Final Say” referendum on Brexit, is that it makes it hard for Labour’s Leadership to pivot. If the UK asks for an extension of the Article 50 deadline, or need to fight a general election, we need a better, more flexible position than the PLP front bench’s current cakism. Our Remain supporting voters and activists need more hope than that! …
Where’s the political theory and academic literature that describes the stultification of democratic organisations? Looking at the AA, when it was a membership organisation, and at my Union, where intermediate structures appoint their controllers,. How does this happen? How do memberships and membership branches lose control? …
Here’s a picture of the Cable Car to the top of the Aguille Rouge.
Possibly over 20 years ago, I caught a chair lift to a point just below here, and was left by my companions; I fell and slide a long way. I was stopped by a very skilled woman, who skied down from above, and caught up with me and who dug her skis into the snow at a point where I was travelling at my slowest. I was somewhat shaken and didn’t say thank you properly. Now’s the time, “Thank You”. I was very lucky. …
On Immigration controls, it’s points, quotas or none! …
I wonder where the Clarion go their picture? Below is a link to the Clarion on the PLP’s waltz with the #hostileenvironment in Parliament. This law will allow the Home Office to criminalise EU citizens living in the UK. It should naver have been an option.
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I was playing with picture stylers over the weekend and had used deepart.io. They used to have a phone app, but that seems to have gone although I am trying to find out if it’s still around; anyway, here is my collection, once again from flickr, although it excludes some portraits.
I also found these people, Deep Art Effects, and now have the app. on the phone. …
Playing with Deepart made me wonder which of my pictures on flickr were the most popular. These are they, mainly in order; yes, the Danish Flag is first. The pictures from my trip to Bury Court are very well viewed. Make what you will of the rest. The pictures are below/overleaf … …
A couple of years ago, I wrote a precis of the McKinsey Quarterly article, “Distortions and deceptions in strategic decisions”. They started with a review of the way human bias can adversely impact strategic investment decisions illustrating it with a story about a mega-merger which failed. They conclude the article with,
Companies can’t afford to ignore the human factor in the making of strategic decisions. They can greatly improve their chances of making good ones by becoming more aware of the way cognitive biases can mislead them, by reviewing their decision-making processes, and by establishing a culture of constructive debate.
The first half of the article examines the propensity to optimism vs. perceptions of loss aversion and argue that portfolio management is a better way to evaluate the risk as lossess can be compensated by other success. I believe though that British management and particularly public sector management is very risk adverse; there is a higher fear of getting things wrong than getting things right although how we end up with Universal Credit, the Boris “vanity lard bus”, his water cannons and his other “erections”, I don’t know.
What made me remember the article was it’s listing of what they call tools to isolate any human bias to me most importantly
Another technique is to request that managers show more of their cards: some companies, for instance, demand that investment recommendations include alternatives, or “next-best” ideas.
I wonder how many of these lessons need to be applied to local authority planning decisions. Check below/overleaf for more …
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