Thursday 23 September 2010

Bankers - sad pawns in their own game of superficiality.

Well done Vince Cable - but it is't in the bankers'/big organsiation's makeup. They couldn't care less. Shareholder value? Another percentage dribble? That's why they do what they do. Lack of regulation - is no excuse to the sensible, cultured, wise or ethical...but it is what the banker/sad executive uses.

Let us have a guidelines check-list where, both internally and externally, each is measured - similar to peer-review in academia. Comment is expected on the work they do and freedom to review - hence transparency - is a part of the system.

We could all do it - shaft people, both legally and within the law. We don't. Basic humanity, is why we do not. Bankers just don't think like that - they are sad pawns in their own game of superficiality.

Sad people. Unfortunately they have each other in common and they can live in their superficial, destroying, unquestioning world. Feeling sorry for them, of course. But that person who has just lost his job, his house, his child....triple G&Ts and bubbly should help them overcome their remorse for their actions.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Borrowed a blog - Childrens' Commissioner, Maggie Atkinson

Sometimes someone else has a blog so good...let's hear it for amazing young people...http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/blog/content_350
20 September 2010 - Young festival goers make their voices heard at Big Shout event

I spent Sunday at the Brathay Trust near Ambleside, which runs Cumbria County Council's participation activity. I was with 600-plus young Cumbrians at the second annual Big Shout, a free young person's festival. The event was originally a 17-year old's idea and last year drew 300 or so young people, this year the numbers doubled.

Big Shout is planned and managed by a group of young people, whose peers came from all over the county to enjoy it. It features: young rock, folk, jazz and rap performers, entertainments, a chill-out area, food and drink, competitions, the chance to learn magic, circus and outdoor adventure skills and a range of arts and crafts opportunities. We also met snakes, a pink tarantula, and a splendid golden eagle! At the event, there was an important questionnaire that most young people filled in about aspects of their lives. The results will be used to inform local service delivery.

The young people could also find out about health services, get advice on everything from volunteering opportunities to education, and Connexions were also there and very well used. Big Shout's planners decided before last year's first event that they wanted to bring young people from a scattered, largely rural, and as they told me "often personally isolating" county, together for one great event. "We get to know people from all over the county, talk to people who can help us or give us advice, and we have a great time as well."

I met with a group of around 20 young Cumbrians who shared their thinking with me. They were keen to be seen as the young citizens they are, and to be listened to by adults who make decisions about their lives. Several County Councillors spent time with their young people. I spent time with as many of them as possible during the festival. They said it had been a fantastic day, a great way of both getting information, and making their voices heard. I wish them well as they plan future events. It was terrific!

By Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England
http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/blog/content_350

Vince Cable has got it right - he is SO pro-business

Well done, Vince Cable. You are so pro-business and so much of British business is with you, and World Business, too.

Marketing-instant-hype requires to push and promote extremes when common sense says 'When presented with extremes, search for the truth between them.' The media are the saddest group here.

Your truth is about holding the right moral ground, thinking and acting ethically and doing right things for humanity. Let us hold-away from those without the transparency, who fail to explain their ethics. This alone will cause the changes to which you aspire.

You, Vince Cable, understand that massive benefits from past long-term thinking are still here....our stature as a trading nation exists. We can build again on this, this searching for the British Business Ethic by China, India, Indonesia, USA, Brazil, not to mention our European partners, indeed all of commerce, for Business demands trust and truth.

Trust in our organisations is vital. Transparency, right thinking and ethics creates future success. Make it so for the long-term, whilst we despise the tricksters and shallowists of the present; to enjoy the quality of the present and future is a real life now.

Global enterprise is affected greatly by individual decision and this is growing in effect. Individual ethics matter. Hold to our depth as good citizens of a Great World and the problems of our world will be righted.

Go Vince, Go!