Champion of better capitalism
According to the Economist, in the USA there is a growing trend for listed companies to be taken private. If the listed company is yesterday’s company what is tomorrow’s? Apparently there is $1.1tn in ‘dry powder’ with Private Equity looking for the right investment. … Continue readingIf the listed company is yesterday’s company, what is tomorrow‘s?
‘I have been a magistrate for over 30 years and feel like I haven’t made any difference’ said a woman in her 70s to whom I was talking on Sunday. She described the context for her despair. A likable youngster sucked into hard drugs; … Continue readingGetting the private sector to deliver social value to the taxpayer
I am reading East West Street by Philippe Sands, the human rights barrister. In this powerful book he describes his journey to discover how his grandparents, Ukrainian Jews, evaded capture while 70 of their close family all died in the Holocaust after years of rising … Continue readingHatred is on the march
The current Brexit crisis is grave and it also has dangerous side-effects. While the parliamentary fever rages other maladies are getting neglected in the UK. These are problems that Charles Handy once compared with slowly heating a frog in water. The frog doesn’t recognise, until … Continue readingThe social care crisis deepens
It becomes ever clearer that both major parties in the UK are irreconcilably split on Brexit. It is the worst peacetime political crisis of for over a century. What is the answer? It is to move , for a time, beyond party politics, … Continue readingBrexit and resignations
So (per this Guardian article) in the year of the NHS’ 70th birthday £20bn will be added to budgets. At the same time spending per head on prevention continues its decline. Programs tackling smoking, poor diet and alcohol address will have fallen by 23.5% … Continue readingGiving with one hand…
Many years ago, I worked in paper manufacturing. I vividly remember the day I was told that we, as 70 managers, had the opportunity to buy the business. But then I discovered that it had all been done in a ‘them-and-us’ way. A colleague … Continue readingEmployee ownership
I started my business career in engineering and spent 15 years in manufacturing. I watched the huge gains in investment and jobs that came from total quality management, lean manufacturing and partnerships with Honda, Nissan and Toyota. And now this wealth creation gem faces … Continue readingThe coming destruction of the UK car industry
I never expected to hear Conservative Ministers like Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt telling us in the UK to ignore concerns of major manufacturing and engineering businesses who are the cornerstone of our economy. Johnson and Hunt haven’t actually said ‘we don’t need hi-tech … Continue readingLeading Conservatives dismiss the importance of modern manufacturing
What are we to make of Labour’s new report entitled Financing Investment? As it happens, the report came out on the same day as I joined Professor John Kay, Sir Anthony Seldon and others at a PARC Trinity House event to discuss ‘Productivity – what … Continue readingProductivity: what is the problem and how to fix it?