Christmas has been a welcome break from my addiction to Brexit podcasts. Perhaps for that reason I’m seeing things less feverishly than a few weeks ago. No new answers to it all have emerged of course – we’re in a genuine pickle in this country – but it’s not time to give up onContinue reading “2019: sunlit lowlands”
Tag Archives: society
Long hot summer of Brexit may be about to get hotter
Never make predictions, they say, especially on blogs that people might read after the prediction has already died a death. But after England lose 17-16 to Colombia on penalties this evening, in a bizarre shoot-out in which Gloria from Modern Family races onto the pitch dressed in a Carlos Valderrama wig, bearing the skull ofContinue reading “Long hot summer of Brexit may be about to get hotter”
How To Reform Capitalism
The School of Life essay How To Reform Capitalism, (available at The School of Life shop), is worth a read for anyone engaged in the commercial world but who wonders about its values. Most of us then. Here’s the blurb: It is normal to feel frustrated and sad about aspects of modern capitalism. At the sameContinue reading “How To Reform Capitalism”
Johnny behavioural science mnemonics: EAST and MINDSPACE
It’s too late to improve Keanu Reaves’ acting, but there’s still hope for using behavioural economics to improve other outcomes. Here are a couple of ‘what to remember about behavioural economics’ mnemonics I thought I’d share, from my recent reading of David Halpern’s Inside the Nudge Unit. According to Halpern, the man behind the BritishContinue reading “Johnny behavioural science mnemonics: EAST and MINDSPACE”
Eating the cabin boy: clues to Brexit from the mists of the Noughties
The period around a decade ago, at any given time, is often lost in a Bermuda Triangle of cultural amnesia. We remember very recent events; and we enjoy revisiting events further back, the tracks through which have been trodden down by enough historians to count as ‘history’. But go back only one decade and weContinue reading “Eating the cabin boy: clues to Brexit from the mists of the Noughties”
Riding the elephant towards empathy: an RSA Animate
In this RSA Animate short film, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA (whose blog is here: https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/matthew-taylor-blog) gives a really interesting overview of the currents of change in big thinkers’ ideas about society. The RSA itself is an organisation that follows, curates and influences these developments. He points forward to what we can expectContinue reading “Riding the elephant towards empathy: an RSA Animate”
Gender Pay Gap: Still Holding Britain Back
If you’re a woman coming into the workforce in Britain, the best advice seems to be to join the police and make it to chief constable, go into IT, or drive a train. There you have a chance of being paid more than a man. Otherwise though, it seems you can expect to earn lessContinue reading “Gender Pay Gap: Still Holding Britain Back”
“Growth mindset”: praising process, not intelligence
This is a neat little 10 minute talk by Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford in the US (http://mindsetonline.com/abouttheauthor/), explaining the simple but powerful idea of the “growth mindset” for learning. The basic idea, based on real life study results, is that pupils with a “growth” mindset about their abilities ultimately out-perform and becomeContinue reading ““Growth mindset”: praising process, not intelligence”
Drive to Swindon and find inner peace
Sometimes – well quite often – I come across a little film or piece of writing that identifies something I’ve long felt and articulates it better than I could. This piece from the School of Life, on what some time behind the wheel on the open road does for you, encapsulates why I’ve come toContinue reading “Drive to Swindon and find inner peace”
Knocked non-conscious: Joanna Chrzanowska’s AQR webinar
This is a webinar Joanna Chrzanowska of Genesis Consulting did for the AQR (http://www.aqr.org.uk) last month. It piqued my interest for at least two reasons. Firstly, it’s an illuminating trot through the roots of qualitative research and its relationship with ideas of the sub-conscious, unconscious and non-conscious. Secondly, it maps out Joanna’s take on where qualContinue reading “Knocked non-conscious: Joanna Chrzanowska’s AQR webinar”
Strangers on the Shore 