tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79056550787352755612024-03-18T09:48:20.727+00:00PoponomicsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-27898839117139548152019-05-03T10:43:00.001+01:002019-05-03T11:24:05.282+01:00Why Car Ownership Is Becoming a Thing of the Past<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i>For decades, car ownership has been an aspiration and something to enjoy, as well as a tool. Recent trends suggest this may no longer be the case for many.</i></b><br />
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As the roads of the horse-drawn carriages of the Victorian elite have now become filled with the chauffeured Rolls-Royces of today's upper class, how you travel has remained a matter of social status. Having your own personal car has long been an aspiration, a sign of social achievement: as <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2006/09/28/the-wheels-on-the-bus">Margaret Thatcher once said</a>, "A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself a failure." This quote exemplifies the attitude of the majority, that led to the boom of car ownership in the latter decades of the 20th century.<br />
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<a href="http://www.demand.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/FutureTravel_report_final.pdf">Times have changed, though.</a> Brits today use cars for 14% fewer trips per year than they did in 2002, travelling 10% fewer miles. While in the 1990s, 80% of 30 year olds were driving, today 80% is only reached by the age of 45. Growth in car ownership has slowed substantially, and as a result many believe that we have reached 'peak car'- and should only expect car ownership to be in decline in the near future.<br />
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Some clear trends have emerged in the 21st century that provide some reasoning for why car ownership seems set to become a thing of the past. Environmental awareness is a massive change; car drivers were happy to purchase ice cap melting gas guzzlers in the 20th century, and, to be honest, many people still are (see the wealth of unnecessarily large diesel 4x4s that patrol the streets of London), but there has been a clear shift of consumer demand away from fossil fuels. This has given rise to the phenomenon of hybrid cars, that can operate for periods without burning petrol, and is currently driving appeal of fully electric vehicles (EVs). EVs are not quite there yet- thanks to low supply and the relatively new technology, prices of electric cars remain a barrier for most, as does the young network of infrastructure to support them.<br />
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In the meantime, the fossil fuelled cars available currently are unacceptable in their environmental impact- hence why they choose to seek alternatives to car ownership, whether it be public transport, cycling or walking.<br />
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Better public transport, has also helped reduce the need to own a car. For citizens of large cities like London, public transport has come on leaps and bounds in the past decades, with metro networks like the London Underground, trams and buses becoming a part of many people's daily commutes. However, the benefit of public transport has been unevenly spread, and focused heavily in metropolitan Britain- rural access to buses has become notoriously poor, given a lack of investment, and consequently car ownership in rural Britain remains higher than in urban areas.<br />
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A simple truth is that many people simply can't afford to purchase a car. Car prices aren't just rising- but running costs too, particularly fuel, tax and insurance. Even storing your car has become harder: Properties with car parking command a premium, car parking charges are exorbitant in most places and employers are increasingly keen for their staff to find other ways to get to work (for example, Vodafone provides free of charge employee bus services to its Newbury HQ). While driving remains for many a cheaper, more reliable alternative than the train, efforts are being made to shift from personal to group transport, where emissions per traveler are substantially lower.<br />
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The youth have been instrumental to all of the above. A new generation has grown up without the innate urge to whizz around at the helm of a car they could call their own, that was so appealing to previous generations. The youth are actively aware of the climate issues the world faces, and how cars contribute to this. They are happy to commute via public transport, cycle or just walk. And today, young people are those particularly feeling the economic pinch, with disposable incomes stagnant and car insurance for young people at an all time high.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5uSOeSShi2vU4aINU_oQCPYWuqhbCAz0z7P4Zeji8ftX6FI3KsDXRm-ow-cZVHS7FkCh21hObBMyfWpXx3dF9XPkjAXiP0wW0dfAjnBFzZh6pDV33B675t9Vg93TnSVX9juIoXgMfRg/s1600/1600px-First_Model_3_production_cars_ready_for_delivery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5uSOeSShi2vU4aINU_oQCPYWuqhbCAz0z7P4Zeji8ftX6FI3KsDXRm-ow-cZVHS7FkCh21hObBMyfWpXx3dF9XPkjAXiP0wW0dfAjnBFzZh6pDV33B675t9Vg93TnSVX9juIoXgMfRg/s320/1600px-First_Model_3_production_cars_ready_for_delivery.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Many carmakers see a future in which customers pay<br />
for the service of car usage, rather than a specific car-<br />
a 'Netflix for Cars'</td></tr>
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The phenomenon of car leasing has existed for a long time, and continues to grow, but the wealth of technology at our fingertips means that we have no shortage of ways to flexibly use cars without owning them. <a href="https://turo.com/">Turo</a> is a service that claims to be an 'Airbnb for your car', where people cant rent cars put up on offer by owners. Companies like <a href="https://www.zipcar.co.uk/">Zipcar</a> own cars dotted around major cities, which users can pay to use by the hour, being able to unlock the car via their smartphone. These systems are already in place and mean that anyone needing access to a car can find one pretty quickly and easily, and they don't need to worry about insurance, road tax and so on- just pay as much as you use it.<br />
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This is just the start: car manufacturers like Tesla and Mercedes-Benz are planning to make their cars open to anyone who needs to use them. The majority of time that you own a car, it will be still- parked up at home or at work. With self-driving technology on the horizon, these firms envisage a future where your car drives you to work, before driving off during the day to act as a 'robot taxi', earning you money, before coming to pick you up at the end of the day. Or, you may come to work in one car, which someone else then takes to use, and you grab another car to go home- meaning you don't own one specific car. Rather, you have access to a wide network of cars.<br />
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Ownership in general seems to be a concept that is fading away. Home ownership has been in decline in many countries, as people seek to rent. We now subscribe to 'on demand' services like Netflix rather than buy and store our own movies. So perhaps it makes sense that cars should follow suit.<br />
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It's a shame for car enthusiasts, certainly. The days of a car being a 'pride and joy' on your driveway appear to be numbered, as self-driving cars also look set to enter the mainstream in the coming decades. But undoubtedly, for those who see a car more as a tool to get from A to B, which most people do, the future promises a more flexible and perhaps affordable prospect for car usage.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com188tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-18589110193263117552018-08-11T12:30:00.000+01:002018-08-12T21:59:04.275+01:00The Power of 'Glocalisation'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Say hello to 'Glocalisation': Globalisation's much more popular little brother.</span></i></b><br />
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There are currently <a href="https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/help/faq/18510-how-many-mcdonalds-restaurants-are-there-in-the-uk-and-the-world.html">over 36,000 McDonald's restaurants</a>, spread across over 100 countries, hiring over 1 million staff, <a href="http://www.everysecond.io/mcdonalds;">serving over 16,000 customers every second</a> of the day.<br />
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If there is one emblem of the phenomenon of globalisation, it's a pair of Golden Arches. In just the span of 78 years, McDonald's has grown from a Californian hamburger stand to the global pioneer of fast food, whose span extends from the sunny shores of Los Angeles to the chilling depths of Siberia.<br />
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There are many things that McDonalds symbolises- the efficiency and ruthlessness of capitalism and the spoils of excesses among two of these- but more than anything the fact that the Golden Arches are pretty much everywhere indicates how well McDonald's have taken advantage of Globalisation. McDonald's has become a global brand, selling well to customers around the world.<br />
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What is often overlooked is how exactly McDonald's has reached this global status, as have many other brands.<br />
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If you were to try to take a standard American Big Mac, that has long been one of McDonald's hallmark products, and sell it across the world, you might be in for some surprises. Despite its reported deliciousness (unfortunately or not, this writer has never tasted one), you would find much of the global population turning their nose up at the burger. Hindus, who make up the majority of India's population of over 1 billion, would protest on the grounds that the burger stars beef. The predominantly Muslim Middle East would not be receptive to the non-Halal meat, and other populations may find the American burger not suited to their perhaps more exotic tastes.<br />
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So if McDonald's were to offer exactly the same products across the world, they would see no success in huge swathes of their stores. Of course, this has not happened in reality- thanks to McDonalds' effective use of 'Glocalisation'- Globalisation, but with a local twist.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSBtPJDRpH4gZE2F-_cw9cNW_iVV_3fAutLJd8z3yS43EtIOHa8st1l2VwY1mvSMqJV6p81EG3A6pKXKDWa-TaJ3WtIQGDYvU96Omqhz1ydc-ZYJmH15s9B-E25KiNnflh3IgPSYB4OSw/s1600/Korea-Shrimp-Burger-Header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSBtPJDRpH4gZE2F-_cw9cNW_iVV_3fAutLJd8z3yS43EtIOHa8st1l2VwY1mvSMqJV6p81EG3A6pKXKDWa-TaJ3WtIQGDYvU96Omqhz1ydc-ZYJmH15s9B-E25KiNnflh3IgPSYB4OSw/s320/Korea-Shrimp-Burger-Header.jpg" width="320" /></a>Glocalisation means McDonald's offers the 'Maharaja Mac' in India- a Big Mac, with either chicken or vegetarian patties rather than beef patties, better suited to most of the Indian population. It means McDonald's serves halal meat in all its Middle Eastern stores, with no pork products offered. And it means throughout the globe, you will find special local products offered by McDonald's in various countries- from the Shrimp Burger offered in Korea (pictured) to McDrumsticks offered in South America.<br />
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All global fast food restaurants tailor their products to suit local markets, and there are other notable examples in other sectors. For example, car manufacturers like Audi produce <a href="https://www.audi.cn/cn/web/en/models/a6/a6l.html">special long wheelbase versions of their cars</a> that are exclusively sold in the Chinese market, where legroom is known to be highly valued by buyers. In technology, <a href="https://news.samsung.com/global/thinking-local-how-products-are-tailored-to-markets-2">Samsung</a> are known for producing special items for certain markets, whether a new type of TV with a 'Cricket Mode' for India and an 'Ice Hockey Mode' for Russia, or a 'Convertible Refrigerator' offered in South East Asia, that allows Freezer drawers to be converted into refrigerated drawers.<br />
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A notably effective example of Glocalisation comes with the story of IKEA's launch in India. To sum up <a href="https://qz.com/india/1323606/ikeas-first-india-store-in-hyderabad-comes-after-decades-of-sourcing/">this excellent Quartz article</a>, the Swedish furniture maker's launch in India was in the making for 6 years, during which extensive research was made on the local market and its needs. Over 1,000 Indian homes were visited in the process. As a result, the Hyderabad IKEA store which opened yesterday features many items unique to India, made from locally sourced materials and designed especially to meet local needs.<br />
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Globalisation is seen by many as a negative thing, primarily for the reason that it has the potential to eradicate local norms and cultures, and replace these with a single (predominantly American) style. There is no doubt that this has already happened- the spread of the McDonald's hamburger, for example, has arguably altered the tastebuds of a whole generation of youth across the world.<br />
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But as companies begin to understand the tastes of their local markets across the world, glocalisation is helping to combat the cultural shift caused by globalisation, by acknowledging and preserving certain aspects of culture. However, glocalisation is arguably sweetening the bitter pill of globalisation- allowing a uniform culture to spread gently, with less pushback. After all, American fries are still offered in every McDonald's across the world!<br />
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Therefore, multinational businesses must understand and embrace their new role in the various markets in which they operate- to bring the efficiency and affordability that makes them popular, but help preserve local culture by incorporating it into their offerings. To ensure long term sustainability, firms will need to arguably do more than they are doing now. In the area of food, for example, granting more autonomy to local markets in terms of the menu offered could help a great deal, not only to preserve local culture but also to increase the customer base and revenue.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-2842694746457312802018-07-29T00:17:00.002+01:002018-07-29T00:20:29.623+01:00Stocks & Shares: What's The Best Way To Invest For Your Future?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Debate has raged on amongst academics, professional investors, and the general public as to the most profitable method of wealth creation. <b>Karl Ahlstedt</b>, Founder of <a href="https://www.hioim.com/">The Horizon Institute</a> and Guest Lecturer at the University of Wales, explores the various options.</i><br />
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From bonds and real estate, to stocks and exotics, the options are both numerous and daunting for the uninitiated investor looking to profit in the long term.<br />
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Timeframes matter; there is no specific optimal type of asset for every time horizon, with the significant departure occurring between short-term (typically less than 5 years) and long-term (typically more than 5 years) investment.<br />
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Investors that need to access their investment capital in under 5 years tend to be locked into investments that are low risk and highly secure – at the cost of abysmal returns. In the UK today (July 2018), the typical return on cash savings accounts across the high-street remain at near record lows of 0.3% per year. With inflation likely to be above 2% according to the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/consumerpriceinflation/june2018">ONS</a>, the purchasing power (or more simply, the worth) of the invested capital falls by as much as 1.7% per year- essentially a 1.7% annual loss, hardly an inspiring incentive for those looking to secure a stable financial future.<br />
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Prior to the 2008/09 financial crisis, the savings rate of easy access bank savings was as much as 5%, and consequently interest rates fell- making borrowing cheaper, and saving less rewarding. This led to investors taking greater risks to fight off inflation and protect capital growth. This is where the financial markets entered the scene for even the most ordinary of people.<br />
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The stock market since inception has returned an average of 7% per year in capital growth, and even the worlds worst investor would, on average, only have to wait 13 years to recover any losses, based on investing lump sums prior to each financial crisis.<br />
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There’s more to consider. Actively managed funds, such as those from hedge-funds, bring with them substantial management fees. This is often a 1-5% management fee, and a 20% performance fee. Given returns of 7% averaged out, the real returns to investors would generally be between 2% and 5% per year. Generally enough to stave off the effects of inflation, but again it is hardly inspiring for those planning long term financial security.<br />
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Yet, the world is changing – the cost of transaction fees continues to decrease, and we are seeing the first zero-fee brokerages opening across North America (<a href="https://robinhood.com/">Robinhood</a>) and Europe (<a href="http://freetrade.io/">Freetrade</a>). While this allows individuals to trade at minimal costs, the financial markets are hardly a place for the inexperienced. The majority of uninformed investors would be advised to avoid building a “positive selection portfolio”, to use the jargon of the industry<br />
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This is where an individual investor identifies, analyses and executes trades to build a portfolio of stocks. The investor is responsible for exposure, risk, financial analysis, and technical analysis to execute trades at the right time. Traditionally, professionals who perform these duties have a quantitative background with degrees in mathematics, physics, economics and finance.<br />
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These professionals construct and use complex financial models, back-testing and analysis which is often beyond the scope of individual investors. This is part of the problem: many of the worlds brightest minds are involved in buying and selling equity securities, and competing with that expertise and resources it often a futile approach.<br />
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Instead, for most ordinary investors a more passive approach is often best. Index funds track the list of companies that make up the index, e.g. the FTSE100 contains the top 100 British companies by market capitalisation (how much the company is worth).<br />
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Therefore, investing in a FTSE100 mutual fund provides exposure to the index as a whole. Remember the 7% annual returns we mentioned earlier? This is where that number came from, it is the average amount per year the collection of stocks (the index) has increased since inception across the developed world. There are a few caveats here, but generally it holds up well enough to be considered an accurate assessment.<br />
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To conclude, a word of caution – since the last financial crisis (and the drop in central bank lending rates), stock markets have become one of the only bastions left for investors seeking 5%+ returns. This has led to substantial demand for stocks and shares which has pushed many financial markets across the globe to record highs. Very simply, higher demand = higher prices.<br />
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I would specifically point out that the S&P now has a CAPE (cyclically adjusted price earnings) ratio similar to that of the great depression, and while its unlikely another great depression is around the corner, the S&P is almost universally accepted as being expensive now when compared to historic levels.<br />
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Decided the passive approach isn’t for you? Want to learn how to build a stock portfolio the same way as they do on Wall Street? Learn more about <a href="https://blog.hioim.com/post/how-to-start-investing-in-stocks-a-comprehensive-guide/">active investing</a> at <a href="https://blog.hioim.com/">The Horizon Institutes blog</a>.<br />
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<i>Disclaimers:</i><br />
<i>The author is in no way affiliated with the brokerages mentioned above.</i><br />
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<i>This article was written by Karl Ahlstedt, Guest Lecturer in Finance at the University of Wales and Founder of <a href="https://www.hioim.com/">The Horizon Institute</a>.</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-87180542208726695892018-07-20T11:49:00.000+01:002018-07-26T23:15:56.177+01:00Why Burberry Destroyed £30m of its Products - An Introduction to Artificial Scarcity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i>How companies artificially rig markets to work in their favour- and how it gets a lot darker than just burning handbags...</i></b><br />
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Burberry has recently caused quite a stir after a controversial business practice was recently revealed. News broke that the British high-end luxury fashion brand has incinerated as much as £28m of its own cosmetics and fashion products over the past year, to protect the brand and eradicate counterfeiting.<br />
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While these latest revelations have drawn attention to Burberry, this practice of destroying one's own stock is not by any means new in the fashion industry. H&M has a deal in Sweden to <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/sweden-they-are-burning-hm-clothing-instead-coal.html">burn its own unwanted stock to produce energy.</a> Slashed shoes were found disposed <a href="https://footwearnews.com/2017/focus/athletic-outdoor/why-nike-store-destroying-most-popular-sneakers-303744/">outside a Nike store in NYC.</a> And Richemont, the group whose portfolio includes luxury watchmaker Cartier, has reportedly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/18/richemont-destroys-nearly-500m-of-watches-in-two-years-amid-buyback-policy">destroyed more than £400m of luxury watches</a> over the past 2 years.<br />
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The most significant threat of these surplus products to a company like Burberry is not the aiding of counterfeiting, rather the potential effect the sale of such items on the grey market could have on the brand. The grey market, unlike the black market, is not necessarily illegal- rather it is a market which sells goods obtained unofficially. Some argue that popular retailers such as TK Maxx are examples of the grey market- obtaining genuine branded items, some of which are from unofficial channels, and selling them for less than the brand itself.<br />
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Burberry's concern is this: if their goods found their way to a shop like TK Maxx, and were sold for a fraction of their actual price, what would be the perceived value of the bags which it sells for full price? The appeal of a luxury brand is exclusivity; the grey market offers anything but this. What's more, it is highly unlikely that the original brand gets any of the grey market revenue at all.<br />
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Considering all this, Burberry's incineration of its own goods is an investment in the company's brand, protecting its goods from reaching the grey market and helping to maintain high prices. This is <b>artificial scarcity</b>.<br />
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Why is this scarcity artificial?<br />
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Well, the fact that the surplus goods existed shows that Burberry can produce than it is putting onto the market. Through artificially reducing supply (burning it), Burberry can keep demand, and thus prices, high.<br />
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To provide contrast, an example of genuine scarcity could be the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44613652">recent CO2 shortage confronting many beverage manufacturers</a>. The shortage of carbon dioxide has restricted the production of fizzy beverages, which, if prolonged, may force producers to raise prices.<br />
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The spread of Burberry's brash act in the news has brought practices that ensure artificial scarcity to light, but in reality, pretty much every business enforces some type of artificial scarcity. Few companies (perhaps, except <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/02/tesla-finally-hits-weekly-production-target-for-model-3-cars">Tesla</a>) genuinely produce at their maximum capacity, whether to protect their brand as Burberry does, or to protect costs.<br />
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Disregarding the contemptible waste of material involved in some methods of creating it (think of how much leather Burberry burned), one could argue artificial scarcity is too substantial an issue. When it comes to luxury brands, for example, few people suffer from not being able to afford a £1000 handbag.<br />
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Where artificial scarcity does come into issue is in industries whose products we depend heavily upon. The pharmaceutical sector is an example; producers with monopoly power over certain drugs can in effect hold its users at ransom by restricting production and sending prices rocketing. Investigations have found this to be happening with medical <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/india/us-firms-tried-to-create-artificial-scarcity-of-stents-post-price-cap-shows-industry-data-1659805.html">products as widely used as stents</a>, where some US firms were found to be exporting an increasing number of stents to India, but distributing fewer, despite demand increasing.<br />
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The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (known as OPEC) also leverage artificial scarcity to their benefit. Its members, which include Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and the UAE, are able to control global oil prices through co-ordinating their output. If it is decided that a rise in oil prices would benefit members, all members reduce their output of oil, and if an oil price cut is desired, they increase output. Such organisations are known as 'cartels'- illegal in most instances due to their lack of competition, but uncontrollable in the case of an organisation as influential as OPEC.<br />
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Artificial scarcity is always working in favour of businesses, rarely (if ever) working in favour of consumers. In the consumer world, it can cause massive waste, but little other genuine threat to consumers themselves.<br />
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However, when artificial scarcity is a tactic leveraged in potentially life-changing industries, such as pharmaceuticals and natural resources, it exposes capitalism at its most vicious- wealthy producers holding consumers depending on their product at ransom, and benefiting from their desperation.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-55301749138598845672018-07-06T17:09:00.000+01:002018-07-06T17:12:57.288+01:00Pros & Cons #6: Buying A House<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i>House ownership is traditionally seen as a sign of steadfast finances and, well, a settled life. So why did 2017 see house ownership in the UK fall to a 30-year low- and is this really a problem?</i></b><br />
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House ownership among the British population has been in decline over the past decades, culminating in the home ownership rate of 62.9% in 2017, according to the <a href="https://landlords.org.uk/sites/default/files/English%20Housing%20Survey%20-%20Summary%202017.pdf">English Housing Survey</a>. This is the lowest ownership rate since 1985, the midst of the turbulent Thatcher premiership. This decline comes despite efforts of successive recent Conservative governments to push home ownership through various incentives (for example, the Help To Buy policy designed to help first time buyers get on the property ladder).<br />
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So, why is home ownership at such a low level? The <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/10505">Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)</a> asserts that the youngest adults in society are those at the greatest disadvantage compared to those of their age in previous decades. The purchasing power of the young has been disproportionately hurt by the failure of incomes to keep up with the rising costs of living. According to the IFS, "almost 90% of 25-34 year-olds faced average regional house prices of at least four times their income, compared with less than 50% twenty years earlier".<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAmgiiYGke4eeYObEdg0ZR7F-MfGylfIXc0EMlpFB6WgVf9KuRYvpzmS94FLTeRaluDE5-HlXF1G2k_FKwC4OVQstuSA8SuoYkFeGMlw4On7CcmmXWxbibq9H7oB-e1nJIT4V0zCkQ68/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-07-06+at+16.37.17.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1600" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAmgiiYGke4eeYObEdg0ZR7F-MfGylfIXc0EMlpFB6WgVf9KuRYvpzmS94FLTeRaluDE5-HlXF1G2k_FKwC4OVQstuSA8SuoYkFeGMlw4On7CcmmXWxbibq9H7oB-e1nJIT4V0zCkQ68/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-07-06+at+16.37.17.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>fig.1 - source: <a href="https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/data/housing/">Resolution Foundation</a></i></td></tr>
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Research from the Resolution foundation (fig.1) suggests home ownership among 25-34 year olds is currently at its lowest rate since the 1960s.<br />
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Other factors also contribute to the decline in home ownership- for example the decline of construction of new homes, foreign investment in large city centres (both of which have contributed to high prices), and also a changing attitude among the younger generation towards home ownership. Even among those who have the financial capacity to purchase a home, the decision to go ahead with the purchase is becoming less clear cut.<br />
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Germany is known for its renting culture- a 2013 study found <a href="https://www.aicgs.org/publication/a-failed-nation-of-homeowners/">just 43% of Germans were homeowners</a>- and it could be possible that in the long term, the UK is heading in a similar direction. So what should you weigh up when deciding whether or not to purchase a house?<br />
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<b>PRO: <i>Your</i> (Relatively) Stable Asset</b><br />
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The belief that home ownership represents stability is not an old wives' tale- indeed, owning a home means that you own an asset that, in usual circumstances, should be reliable and in fact increase in value over time.<br />
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What's more, when you own your home you have full autonomy over what you want to do with it. Renting leaves you dependent on your landlord- if they don't want you to put a nail in the wall to hang up a family photo, you can't. Although there are laws to protect those who rent (tenants), the landlord can also make you leave the property, even against your will. No one can do this to you if you live in a property you own (except the bank, if you don't keep up with your mortgage, that is).<br />
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Owning a house leaves you with a fall-back in case of financial catastrophe- it is a valuable asset that you can sell to downsize and shore up emergency funds, or sell to have a helpful hand further up the property ladder. A common practice among people approaching retirement age is to sell their home and downsize- leaving them with a tidy financial benefit to enjoy retirement with.<br />
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<b>CON: Responsibility</b><br />
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As the saying goes, "with great power comes great responsibility"- and a house is no exception. Owning a house means you are responsible for it completely- you've got to deal with any issues that arise, whether that means a broken window or a fault in the structural integrity of the whole building. If you don't invest where necessary in the maintenance of your home, the value could tank.<br />
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On the other hand, tenants enjoy the freedom to pass over (most) issues of maintenance to the landlord, who has the responsibility to sort these things out. Furthermore, while the tenant doesn't take a share of any increase in the value of the property they are renting, the tenant is also protected from any fall in value- it is the landlord who has to absorb this cost.<br />
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<b>PRO: Favourable Finances</b><br />
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Depending on when you purchase your home, you can benefit financially from favourable economic conditions.<br />
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The most common advantage taken by homebuyers is low interest rates- these are influenced largely by the base interest rate set the Bank of England, which essentially uses it as a tool to either stimulate or reduce demand in the economy. Low rates mean borrowing is cheap, encouraging people to take out loans to purchase houses, generating more activity in the economy.<br />
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Furthermore, taking up a fixed interest rate enables a clear idea of payments that are to be made over the time of your mortgage- as opposed to renting under a landlord, where the rent can change upon their whim. Home buyers need to decide, however, whether a fixed or variable (changing) interest rate suits them best- a variable rate helps when the Bank of England lowers its rate during the period of the mortgage, but increases costs should the Bank of England do the opposite.<br />
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<b>CON: Lack of flexibility</b><br />
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Purchasing a home is not suited particularly well to a young generation that is more mobile than ever. A 'job for life' was a reality for previous generations that has become increasingly rare for today's youth. This is due not just to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/4c0355c8-145e-11e7-b0c1-37e417ee6c76">increasing job insecurity</a>, but a young workforce that is more willing than ever to relocate regularly- in part thanks to phenomena such as social media tying people down less to 'home'.<br />
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Purchasing a home is neither a short nor flexible process- the <a href="https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/blog/should-you-get-a-30-year-or-longer-mortgage">average mortgage repayment period is 25 years.</a> On the other hand, most renting agreements are 12 months long. Thus, renting offers a more appealing and feasible option to young people who may be changing careers every 2-5 years, or those hoping to upsize their home relatively soon.<br />
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<b>PRO: Satisfaction</b><br />
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Studies indicate that home ownership brings a greater sense of security and happiness- a <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2017/08/24/homeowners-are-happier-renters-their-standard-livi/">YouGov poll from 2017</a> found 73% of home owners to be satisfied with their standard of living, as opposed to just 53% of renters. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com97tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-73993432142214578212018-06-29T20:05:00.000+01:002018-07-25T11:52:31.802+01:00Lessons From A Sandwich Year In Work<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Taking a 'Sandwich' course that includes a year in work can provide a fantastic kick-start to your career. Having recently completed his placement year, our Editor-in-chief <b>Mohammad Lone</b> explains how you can make the most of it.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Regrettably, most undergraduates' sandwich years have little do with the actual sandwichery.</i></td></tr>
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Adding a year to a traditional Bachelor's degree to spend a year working in industry is an increasingly popular option for many undergraduates in the UK. For some courses in some universities, it is becoming the norm- around 70% of my Economics cohort at the University of Bath go on to do a year long placement.</div>
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A year in industry can provide some great opportunities for personal and career development, but given that more and more students are deciding to go down this path, it is becoming increasingly important to stand out and make the most of this year. Simply having a position and an employer's name on your CV may well not be enough to compete in the competitive grad job market.</div>
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I've just completed my industrial placement working for a niche management consultancy firm. The year was at times fascinating, at others daunting and occasionally gruelling- here are three of the lessons I've learnt along the way.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">1)</span> <span style="font-size: x-large;">People</span></b></div>
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It is highly likely that as an undergrad placement student, you'll be one of the youngest employees in your office- meaning it can be very easy for you to hide yourself out of view and go quietly unnoticed. The common insecurity faced by any young employees is that their older, more 'experienced' colleagues and superiors always know better, and so they should never be challenged or questioned.</div>
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<b>Forget your age</b>- yes, you may not be as experienced as your older colleagues, but you are still there to contribute, to ultimately leave an impact. Be sure to reflect on your own skillset and areas where you actually may be stronger than others- be it creativity, use of technology, or anything else, and leverage this. Value yourself, don't be afraid to speak up and make yourself heard.</div>
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This means not being afraid to ask questions, contribute ideas in meetings, and being open with your colleagues. Yes, you will not be spinning gold with every question or idea you have, but those you do release will be valued by colleagues and superiors, and make sure they remember you specifically.</div>
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What's more, being interactive with others will open the door for you to maximise your network while on placement. Get to know your seniors, and gain their trust. Don't be afraid to reach out to important people you might not work with, like your area Director or even CEO. Ask them to meet for a quick coffee chat to learn from their experiences- if you write the invite succinctly and politely, the worst result you'll get is a "sorry, I'm too busy" but the best result could be an insightful chat, and a connection made.</div>
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Also, don't be afraid to get to know colleagues around you on a personal level- even those who you don't directly work with. Work is not always easy or enjoyable, so at least being in a friendly environment can keep spirits up.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>2) Feedback</b></span></div>
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Don't forget why you're on placement. Up there with networking and getting to know important people, you're there to <b><i>learn</i></b>. Learn about the world of work, about a particular career or sector you are pursuing, about yourself and your own abilities. The placement experience is part of the learning experience of university- hence why it's engrained into the course. What you learn, and how you develop with these lessons, is what later adds value to you from a future graduate employer's perspective, making you more 'employable'. Even if the career you go on to have is wildly different from that in your placement, there will be transferrable skills.</div>
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One of the primary ways you will learn is from feedback- and this is why you should regularly seek out feedback, from your colleagues and particularly your seniors. There are certain times where feedback is absolutely necessary- notably in the first weeks of your placement, and towards the close. However, you should seek feedback throughout the year. This may be on a weekly or monthly basis, whenever your team closes a project, or some other landmark occasion. </div>
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Asking for feedback consistently enables you not just to learn what you do well and what you can improve on, but it allows you to put into practice what you've learnt- it allows you to <i><b>develop</b></i>.</div>
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Don't forget that feedback can also come from yourself- so keep a diary of your daily activities and notes, with any lessons you learn on the job noted down for future reference.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>3) Freedom</b></span></div>
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Freedom? Isn't being tied to a desk (if you're unlucky) from 9am - 6pm 5 days a week the opposite of free? Especially compared to a university life of free Wednesday afternoons and regular lie-in opportunities?</div>
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Well, the hours may not present you as much perceived freedom as university, but you can in fact take advantage of even more freedom if you recognise and utilise the free hours you have. Unlike university, most jobs will not require you to take work home, meaning you will have truly free evenings and weekends. Without the worry of preparation for any upcoming class work or test.</div>
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Of course, given that you will be at work, it's crucial to apportion some of this time for rest and relaxation, getting you recharged for the next day of work. </div>
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But, your job itself isn't the only source of personal development on your placement year- your free time can be, too. You can use it to hone a certain skill or hobby you have, or find new ones. You can join sports clubs, whether at your work or in your local area. You can even, if you're real keen, read up throughout the year on your final year course content*.</div>
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You could very easily breeze through your placement year, doing the minimum required and just letting time pass by- trust me, I've been through periods of this myself. But if you take a moment to reflect and remember why you're delaying your studies, and actually your graduate life, for a whole a year, you will understand that to make the most of it, you have to work hard and go over and beyond the basic requirements. You'll need to actively question and contribute to discussion, develop connections, collect and utilise feedback for self development, and make the most of the free hours you probably won't have when you go back for final year. This will help you make the most of your placement.</div>
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<i>* though, do remember to relish your year free of formal studies.</i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-75218156719247636262018-02-13T23:19:00.002+00:002018-07-25T11:53:05.698+01:00The Plastic Resolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP396roN6G_Uu3acPVma7eFbgwmWEuwLfpdmY8xckyZWPAcna4b-lYTRBUMOTDGiY7l7TjSPLk3bXlIuHeK8BKrl8i9q2KegkbdJkjyAhAUbStwMw1aaRACsiRp1OZm2WoaO0QAP5AVQg/s1600/coca-cola-330ml-icon-bottle-2015_temp_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP396roN6G_Uu3acPVma7eFbgwmWEuwLfpdmY8xckyZWPAcna4b-lYTRBUMOTDGiY7l7TjSPLk3bXlIuHeK8BKrl8i9q2KegkbdJkjyAhAUbStwMw1aaRACsiRp1OZm2WoaO0QAP5AVQg/s1600/coca-cola-330ml-icon-bottle-2015_temp_1.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.poponomics.net/2018/02/the-plastic-nightmare.html">As we discussed in the previous piece</a>, plastic is so engrained in our lives and in the modern global economy, that it seems impossible to imagine a modern world without it. But we can, and in fact we must, if we are to avoid some of the catastrophic damage that lays ahead due to our excessive plastic use and wastage.<br />
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So, how can we reduce our reliance on plastic- what is the <i>Plastic Resolution</i>?<br />
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Firstly, we can establish that change has to happen on multiple levels of society. We can broadly categorise these into three: the individual, the business, and the government.<br />
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Secondly, we must understand that plastic will not go away tomorrow. As it has taken decades and decades for plastic to find its way into mass usage, it is likely to take even longer to find substitutes for all the various plastics we use for different purposes. But every effort has to start somewhere!<br />
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To start the war against plastic, it's most important to approach and resolve the most frequent offender- single use plastics. As the name suggests, these are plastics which are simply used once and then are disposed.<br />
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Single use plastics are what comes to the minds of most when we envisage the harm caused by plastics to wildlife. We all have heard of plastic soft drink bottles piling up in our seas, animals dying after mistaking plastic bags for food, or getting trapped in plastic packaging. Single use plastics are so dangerous to the environment in large part because there is such high demand for them. Every time you get a coffee to go, every time you go shopping, every time you buy a bottle of water, another single use plastic is added to the wastepile after you finish.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtEGKjY3XJph0K125c0ax1eKlhl50Kn63YhDaaW_ZmxFKQJqo4tu-Z_s8UregJMYIkUlWvWwwi7pfn-OWH0gqu_ExnSG9WpqSpYb1jx1wnGzBNUANut2vaiYw6pU-EzyPVUUIELGe3Hk/s1600/carrier-bag-artwor_3393351b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtEGKjY3XJph0K125c0ax1eKlhl50Kn63YhDaaW_ZmxFKQJqo4tu-Z_s8UregJMYIkUlWvWwwi7pfn-OWH0gqu_ExnSG9WpqSpYb1jx1wnGzBNUANut2vaiYw6pU-EzyPVUUIELGe3Hk/s320/carrier-bag-artwor_3393351b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The government's 5p plastic bag charge, introduced in 2015,<br />
proved successful in reducing use of plastic bags</td></tr>
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The British government has already begun to take on single use plastics. The 5p minimum charge for plastic bags introduced in 2015 was designed to encourage shoppers to use reusable bagging, and it saw dramatic success-with an <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carrier-bag-charge-summary-of-data-in-england/single-use-plastic-carrier-bags-charge-data-in-england-for-2016-to-2017">estimated 83% reduction in plastic bags issued</a> by the country's biggest retailers. The government will be extending this charge to include small businesses this year.<br />
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Further legislation was also put in place in January 2018, including a ban on the use of microbeads in cosmetic products.<br />
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While such actions are indeed crucial steps for the governments of the world to take, many argue further can be done by the government, specifically to influence business behaviour. Some believe the stick approach works best- for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/22/make-supermarkets-and-drinks-firms-pay-for-plastic-recycling-say-mps">making businesses pay for the recycling of the plastic packaging they sell</a>. Others argue for the carrot- a more incentives-based approach. This could mean a policy like setting targets for businesses to reduce plastic waste, and rewarding them appropriately.<br />
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However, without research and development, businesses could be left with no choice but to continue using harmful plastics. With its unique properties and versatility, there's a reason why plastic is so commonly used in products- and to find equally cost effective and versatile substitutes is no easy task.<br />
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There is a strong argument that businesses should bring back materials previously used- such as glass for soft drinks, paper for grocery bags, or steel for cups. While such materials may well see a comeback, they have their foibles- and to find a substitute for plastic that keeps all its benefits, a lot of research and development will need to be done. This will need to be supported by the government, but equally businesses are responsible for funding and supporting such activities.<br />
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So we've now moved onto business- what can business do to reduce plastic waste?<br />
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This is a complex question; specifically because for most businesses, plastic is the most cost-effective material for packaging. Thus, investing potentially considerable resources into finding an alternative will not be an appealing prospect from a strictly financial perspective.<br />
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This is when Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR for short) comes into play. As entities that both give and take to society, businesses must accept the role they have played in creating the current chaos (with relative innocence, it can be argued), but more importantly accept the role they now have to help society fix those problems- by investing in finding alternatives to plastic. This may not be a profit-driven decision (though it could well be, as we'll explore shortly), but it is one that is crucial for our society's resolution to the plastic problem.<br />
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The government, through offering financial incentives for environmentally friendly behaviour, can ease this transition for businesses. However, the primary customers of most businesses are ultimately us- the end individuals, as consumers.<br />
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Therefore it is imperative that we as individuals are careful about what we consume. We should avoid single use plastics- and the best way to do this is to reuse. Get a reusable coffee cup, get a reusable solid liquid container, get a reusable bag, and make sure you recycle whatever plastic you can't substitute. Even something as small as buying a bigger plastic tub of yoghurt rather than several small tubs can help- as buying in bulk generally reduces the packaging-to-content ratio.<br />
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And when businesses aren't conscious about minimising their plastic waste, we should be conscious not to award them our business. As consumers we often forget our power, when we act in unison. Businesses acting irresponsibly should be punished for their failure to serve the environment, and businesses doing their bit should be rewarded. This serves a similar purpose to financial services offered by the government to businesses; it makes it easier and more financially appealing for businesses to minimise plastic waste.<br />
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However, it is often easier said than done to be entirely conscious about your plastic usage as an individual. The large majority of people still use single use coffee cups, for example.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0GC7whAJcIM9eEmU762dLVOxtEJsyEkZPVX8R5iwUEfTqOOtLKkhNh4YC53knstCXtnfYyBzZ6WFB9RElg-5V1ezzMRzakfPqFnVauBQQywv7fF9UYP21bVAc-TcnaGGpVpnZLfCettA/s1600/CnyYoj7XgAEHcBk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0GC7whAJcIM9eEmU762dLVOxtEJsyEkZPVX8R5iwUEfTqOOtLKkhNh4YC53knstCXtnfYyBzZ6WFB9RElg-5V1ezzMRzakfPqFnVauBQQywv7fF9UYP21bVAc-TcnaGGpVpnZLfCettA/s320/CnyYoj7XgAEHcBk.jpg" width="320" /></a>Here, <i>businesses can help us</i> to behave more responsible. For example, reward schemes for using a reusable coffee cups are standard across many major coffee shops in the UK, and you can get supermarket loyalty points for reusing any carrier bags. These things make it more appealing and easy for us as consumers to avoid plastic, or at least use it responsibly. At the same time, government policies such as the 5p plastic bag charge push us to be more considerate.<br />
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Single use plastics remain the primary issue the world needs to tackle; once we are able to confront this, the battle for a future less clogged with plastic bottles is half-won, and we can perhaps continue to look at phasing out plastic entirely.<br />
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The fact is that the main onus is on businesses, as the primary producers of these plastic products, to reduce plastic waste. And of these businesses, the largest and most influencial hold the most responsibility. Once a company like 'Coca-Cola' takes a clear stance against plastic waste, for example by replacing all plastic bottles with glass bottles, the industry will be sure to react. The government, and we as consuming individuals, need to do our best to foster the conditions in which such a decision might be made.<br />
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The fight against plastic waste is a classic example of how the government, businesses and individuals can, and must, all interact as members of society to incentivise each other to behave better. By each accepting their responsibilities and burdens, the unity of these three groups has the long-term potential to create our <i>Plastic Resolution</i>. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-65296650864278643662018-02-02T20:00:00.000+00:002018-02-03T01:20:15.356+00:00The Plastic Nightmare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbySq9QcpiNMrYurLe6T5pz9zCrcrOHELQWrlHedTwDo9DclKDh6LlI4o9zEFo7vnVWwNq1SLQuPmk4kbgXxYgE9oOXoQQOHgF5hXu1zrXIQxTEitVaIbqcogtRxREQFkBvgVIZtwxaE/s1600/Plastic-In-the-Ocean-Mar-3-Linkedin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbySq9QcpiNMrYurLe6T5pz9zCrcrOHELQWrlHedTwDo9DclKDh6LlI4o9zEFo7vnVWwNq1SLQuPmk4kbgXxYgE9oOXoQQOHgF5hXu1zrXIQxTEitVaIbqcogtRxREQFkBvgVIZtwxaE/s1600/Plastic-In-the-Ocean-Mar-3-Linkedin.jpg" /></a></div>
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Plastic is something we deal with at almost every moment of our lives. From our household goods, to our cars, computers, Amazon packages and more, plastic is a seldom-appreciated phenomenon of the modern human age. A miracle of modern chemistry, plastic is arguably the most versatile material out there.<br />
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However, our use of plastic in today's world exemplifies one of our greatest weaknesses, actually raised out of one of our greatest strengths: we can make the world and its resources bow to our needs, but we often fail to attend to the needs of the world. This behaviour has put a whole host of parties at risk- from the earth itself, to our co-habitants, to our very own future generations of humankind.<br />
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The most prominent example of such behaviour, and rightly so, is the phenomenon of pollution. Air pollution scars the lives of many inhabitants of today's sprawling metropoles of the world, while putting the very future of our entire Earth at risk.<br />
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Though a known concern for many years, the way we use plastic has come under the spotlight in recent months. The primary issue with plastic comes with its lack of biodegradability; meaning, left undealt with in landfill or in oceans as it is in many places today, it will not go away. Plastic waste will simply pile up.<br />
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And boy, has it been piling up.<br />
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We produce over 300 million tonnes of plastic each year; 8 million tonnes of which is dumped into the ocean, according to <a href="http://plasticoceans.org/">plasticoceans.org</a>. At the current rate, it is estimated that by 2050 the plastic waste in our seas will <a href="http://recyclingtechnologies.co.uk/plastic-and-environment/the-problem-of-plastic/">outweigh all the fish.</a><br />
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Yes, an increasing amount of waste plastic is now being recycled; but still, a <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/plastic-produced-recycling-waste-ocean-trash-debris-environment/">shocking 91% of plastic worldwide isn't recycled.</a> This is usually due to one of two reasons; poor recycling infrastructure and organisation, or the lack of recyclability of many plastics, such as those used in most coffee cups, due to its waterproof nature. We may be encouraged to place our coffee cups in recycling bins, but in reality, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/05/just-one-400-coffee-cups-recycled-even-put-recycling-bin-poll/">just 1 in 400 coffee cups are actually recycled.</a><br />
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As one would expect, this massive influx of plastic waste has has profoundly negative effects on the environment and wildlife.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighBiY7iGne4_ZbWP4vivqkMC1uZf_VpXR4iuspjhvtJYSCBwT6qOV7oQuoGgkL1bsw165Kh0MZQfRbSJFpksNVMWYcE-EEJ5i6EXnJbR881YBP1_KeskA1hQ-3EGYzFR4VAPVHujoTes/s1600/garbage-in-ocean-pic4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighBiY7iGne4_ZbWP4vivqkMC1uZf_VpXR4iuspjhvtJYSCBwT6qOV7oQuoGgkL1bsw165Kh0MZQfRbSJFpksNVMWYcE-EEJ5i6EXnJbR881YBP1_KeskA1hQ-3EGYzFR4VAPVHujoTes/s320/garbage-in-ocean-pic4.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Great Pacific Garbage Patch</td></tr>
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is one gargantuan example of our failure to deal with our excess plastic. The GPGP is a massive collection of debris, the majority of which consists of plastic. While we tend to imagine this as a mass of plastic bottles and the like drifting in the sea (as pictured on the right), the majority of the GPGP is made of 'microplastics'.<br />
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While plastics do not biodegrade, they are broken into smaller and smaller pieces continuously. This results in a dust-like material that never disappears from the oceans.<br />
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Microplastics also come from everyday items we use. For example, it was very common for many skincare products and toothpastes to contain microbeads, that supposedly improved the feel of the product on the skin and visual appeal. However, research suggests that microbeads blocked digestive tracts of animals who consumed them- so these luxuries came at an exceedingly high price. On a positive note, more people are coming to realisation about this, as bans on the use of these materials come into play in many countries of the world.<br />
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This waste in the oceans wreaks havoc with wildlife. Unaware of the dangers and toxicity of many plastics, small pieces of plastic are often confused with food. A 2015 study found that as many as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/01/up-to-90-of-seabirds-have-plastic-in-their-guts-study-finds">9 out of 10 sea birds had plastic in their guts.</a><br />
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There are countless further tragic stories of animals falling victim to our plastic waste. From poisoning to asphyxiation, plastics are the causes of death for estimated millions of animals, both on land and in sea. Whether they are in the form of microbeads, plastic bags, packaging or something else, plastics pose a significant threat to biodiversity, and in the long term could threaten entire species if left undealt with.<br />
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Our success in making plastic serve so many of our needs is coming at the cost of our planet. As our land and seas become landfill sites for plastic waste that will never go away, millions of animals are dying, suffering from pains as simple as becoming entangled in plastic six-pack can packaging.<br />
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Plastic has indeed served the human race well- but it is time to move on.<br />
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<b><i>So, how can we confront this massive problem of plastic, when we are so dependent on it? We'll discuss what governments, businesses, and we as individuals, are doing and can do to end this chaos in next week's article.</i></b><br />
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<b>To see how you can influence and get involved in the fight against plastic, join the community at <a href="http://www.aplasticplanet.com/">A Plastic Planet.</a></b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10London, UK51.5073509 -0.1277582999999822351.1895294 -0.77595179999998221 51.8251724 0.52043520000001775tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-14495567522440409402018-01-01T14:50:00.000+00:002018-08-11T11:34:48.474+01:00How Businesses Can Make Money Out Of Your Misery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i>Apple recently admitted to reducing performance on older devices- leading to understandable discontent with the firm. But such practice is in fact more common than you'd first think. </i></b><br />
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Though Apple refused the accusations, its <a href="https://www.apple.com/iphone-battery-and-performance/">recent apology for the 'misunderstanding' regarding how it treats devices with older batteries</a> only reassured what many cynics suspected- that Apple had been slowing down older devices, in order to push users of these devices to upgrade. There is no way of knowing 100% that this is was Apple's intention- but, if this suspicion were to be true, Apple would not be alone in such a practice.<br />
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This is a strategy known as 'planned obsolescence', and it dates back as far as 1932. At this time, America was in the pits of its economic depression- and Bernard London, a real-estate broker, asserted in his paper <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/London_(1932)_Ending_the_depression_through_planned_obsolescence.pdf">'Ending the Depression through Planned Obsolescence'</a> that businesses should "chart the obsolescence of capital and consumption goods at the time of their production". Essentially, he wanted businesses to plan for the goods they sell to become obsolete, and thus demand for the goods to be reinvigorated. So because goods would become obsolete, people would buy essential items more often, providing a boost to the economy.<br />
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Planned obsolescence is all around us in today's world. Some argue that shaving razor companies, for example, deliberately do not select the most durable materials for their razors, as they want users to continue to replace their razors regularly. Even something like a 'best before' date on food and drink could be argued to accommodate planned obsolescence- many people throw away milk that is perfectly fine, just because it has passed the best before date by one day. Of course, they then buy more milk to replace it.<br />
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The problem is that it is usually difficult to identify where it is happening, as it is not a practice most businesses would be happy to admit to. 'Best before' dates may be deliberately early to protect the consumer from any possibility of spoilt food (or protect the seller from legal action). Razor companies may not use the most durable material for their razors because it might not be profitable to do so. Going back to the Apple example- one cannot be certain that the company practiced planned obsolescence for revenues' sake, as we have no fully reliable insight into the company's intentions when it decided to reduce performance on older devices.<br />
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Given that the world of business, however, is not always the most ethical, it is almost certain that many businesses engage in planned obsolescence with the primary intention of squeezing more money out of the customer, with little care for the disruption caused to them.<br />
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Another practice that is closely related to, and perhaps overlapping with, planned obsolescence, and is arguably easier to detect, is what Tim Wu of The New Yorker calls 'calculated misery'. In his <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/airlines-want-you-to-suffer">very insightful piece</a>, Wu explores what he sees as calculated misery being dished out by American airline firms to its customers, to accommodate its fees system. "Basic service, without fees, must be sufficiently degraded in order to make people want to pay to escape it", Wu says- and when you think about it, this is true indeed.<br />
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Many of the airlines practicing calculated misery tactics have contributed to flying being generally known today as a miserable experience, at least for those not able to shell out on business or first class seats.<br />
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The emergence of premium economy is a classic example of this. Premium economy has recently emerged as a mid-way point between economy and business class, typically for middle-class passengers with a little more money to spend, but not enough for business class. They enjoy features like longer legroom, maybe some extra food, and other amenities.<br />
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To accommodate the extra space needed for these seats, some airlines have had to redesign their plane layouts- and of course, they would not make any changes that would come at the cost of the highest paying passengers up front. Rather, some airlines have made subtle changes to economy class- whether it is bunching together more cramped seats in a row, or more commonly, pushing together seats and reducing legroom. The phenomenon of falling legroom has been so common that <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/american-airlines-to-shrink-legroom-for-these-coach-passengers-2017-05-03">investigations have been ordered into it by courts in the USA.</a> Not only does this change allow more room for the greater profiting premium economy seats, but it also dishes out calculated misery to those in economy- squeezing them (quite literally) and incentivising them to pay the extra sum for premium economy.<br />
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Another recent example of calculated misery being dished out is evident in British Airways' recent plans to board passengers in order of how much they paid for their ticket. Even within classes- <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/british-airways-hand-baggage-only-policy-fare-boarding-priority-reaction-plans-date-group-system-a8062741.html">those paying the least are made to board last.</a> Despite the fact that this is a less than optimal strategy for boarding, it again incentivises passengers to pay more for their ticket.<br />
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So, to summarise: some businesses, whether through planned obsolescence or calculated misery tactics, are squeezing more money from consumers, despite and in fact <i>because, </i>they are providing a worse customer experience.<br />
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But how are businesses getting away with it? The fact is, that the lack of competition between them is allowing them to do whatever they want. If one airline charges extra to jump ahead of the boarding queue, it won't suffer- if the rest of the industry does the same. As consumers, we are often held to ransom by collusion between businesses in an industry, as businesses are allowed to prioritise profits over customer experience.<br />
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There is some action that can be taken, however; it is our duty as consumers to show our discontent, both with our words and our pockets, where possible. Government must also intervene to prevent such collusion between businesses, and to ensure healthy competition in the marketplace. Only then will the relationship between business and consumers be mutually beneficial and profitable.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-62685387424136234282017-12-08T15:54:00.000+00:002018-03-09T12:38:07.354+00:00How Will Autonomous Cars Change Our Economy?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Self-driving cars are about to become widespread; the advantages these vehicles have over traditional cars are obvious. One question then is how will this automation impact the economy? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Mark Slater</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> investigates...</span></span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQUkFpfKTkf3Xmh-NLAYYAfaMKDoZKCUWqM2kD3DQbit233oal8mug2nMvLlwwVIhK5gPKR-KbdikZ04w89Vj1eG0oXgoK6XqSTUP4GYgEEhrOVqOvMMLS4otrnoopibRZZdmHF_UF5SE/s1600/Autonomous-Testing-2016-Tesla-Model-S-self-driving.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQUkFpfKTkf3Xmh-NLAYYAfaMKDoZKCUWqM2kD3DQbit233oal8mug2nMvLlwwVIhK5gPKR-KbdikZ04w89Vj1eG0oXgoK6XqSTUP4GYgEEhrOVqOvMMLS4otrnoopibRZZdmHF_UF5SE/s1600/Autonomous-Testing-2016-Tesla-Model-S-self-driving.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image: pursuitist.com</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Mark Slater</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.automax.net/about-automax-in-youngsville-nc">AutoMax, North Carolina</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "open sans";"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Self-driving cars navigating themselves by computer are becoming an actuality in the 21st century. In fact, it is projected that <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjx7fvI4frXAhXLJMAKHRe5BFgQFggvMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fnews%2Fcanada%2Fwindsor%2Fautonomous-cars-detroit-auto-show-1.3924586&usg=AOvVaw2W0GJXv7ZzVyvVcjtDYRN2">by 2030 over 50% of the cars on the streets will be driverless</a></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">. It’s time to carefully examine the effects this will have on our economy and to what extent.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Automated vehicles do have some incredible benefits. It is believed that accidents will be reduced by a considerable amount, mostly because <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj7h-3j4frXAhVMDcAKHR6kDVYQFgguMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcyberlaw.stanford.edu%2Fblog%2F2013%2F12%2Fhuman-error-cause-vehicle-crashes&usg=AOvVaw1FSylf-GUFd_R7A4CGHsJf">it is estimated that 93% of all vehicular accidents are caused by human error</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj7h-3j4frXAhVMDcAKHR6kDVYQFgguMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcyberlaw.stanford.edu%2Fblog%2F2013%2F12%2Fhuman-error-cause-vehicle-crashes&usg=AOvVaw1FSylf-GUFd_R7A4CGHsJf">. </a>This is probably one of the best features these cars will bring to the table, but since the roads will be safer when you look at it from the perspective of an insurer or injury lawyer you see the loss of revenue as a direct result of these vehicles. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/29/steep-economic-toll-of-crashes/9715893/">Accidents cost the USA US$900 billion every year in repairs and administration costs</a>- which will also be greatly reduced by the advent of autonomous cars</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This could have a massive impact on the economy. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Still, car </span><a href="https://www.automax.net/about-automax-in-youngsville-nc" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dealership</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> mechanics need not necessarily fret, as even though there will be a reduction in accidents and the repair work mechanics perform there may actually be an increase in their workload due to a higher need for maintenance as a direct result of an increase in daily automotive use from convenience and vehicle sharing. Mechanics would certainly have to become accustomed with the innovative technology and get themselves through the necessary training. If they invest in these skills they could actually see a substantial increase in revenue over the next few decades. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morgan Stanley believes <a href="http://www.governing.com/columns/public-money/gov-driverless-car-state-local-revenue.html">US governments could lose US$1.3 billion from more esoteric revenue sources such as parking fees</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.governing.com/columns/public-money/gov-driverless-car-state-local-revenue.html">.</a> This is mostly because automated cars can be on the road much more. Here is an example: imagine a parent going to work in the morning and directing the car to go back home and take his daughter to university before directing it to come back to pick him up. The vehicle will have much less need for a constant place to park all day. </span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Similarly, there will be a widespread reduction in the number of parking garages and parking spaces needed, which will allow for more apartment and office space development. Consumers, and not government, will benefit from this more. There is also a projected <a href="http://www.governing.com/columns/public-money/gov-driverless-car-state-local-revenue.html">reduction of vehicle ownership from an average of 2.1 non-automated vehicles per </a></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.governing.com/columns/public-money/gov-driverless-car-state-local-revenue.html">household to 1.2 driverless vehicles per household</a></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and this would reduce government revenue from vehicle registration fees. </span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-63b3994a-36ca-c976-2d97-d9b57ce5bb02"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Car ownership could even cease to exist by 2030. A Columbia University study suggested Uber would need just 9,000 autonomous vehicles to completely wipe out all taxis in New York City, with <a href="http://sustainablemobility.ei.columbia.edu/files/2012/12/Transforming-Personal-Mobility-Jan-27-20132.pdf">consumers only having to wait 36 seconds on average for a ride</a></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://sustainablemobility.ei.columbia.edu/files/2012/12/Transforming-Personal-Mobility-Jan-27-20132.pdf">.</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-63b3994a-36ca-c976-2d97-d9b57ce5bb02"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When these vehicles start to show up more, people will naturally be skeptical of how safe they are. This will be the response until these cars start to gain more recognition for safety. When this happens, the travel industry could also be heavily impacted. Why would anyone book a domestic flight or a hotel when they can have their car drive them somewhere overnight while they sleep safely in the vehicle? Why would anyone go through the trouble of reserving a room or even spending any money on a room when their car could drive them the whole way in privacy and luxury? Highway motel operators will take a big hit when these cars become more common. </span></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-63b3994a-36ca-c976-2d97-d9b57ce5bb02"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is estimated that trucking companies could <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/03/self-driving-cars-will-disrupt-10-industries-commentary.html">save up to US $500 billion dollars annually by 2025</a></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This would, however, cause many truck drivers to become unemployed. Indeed, there are many other drivers that will be affected such as taxi drivers, bus drivers, and even shuttle drivers. This level of job loss could put a real strain on the economy through unemployment. </span></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-63b3994a-36ca-c976-2d97-d9b57ce5bb02"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the other side of things, however, IT workers and analyst will see a positive impact as they will be more important in the age of automation. Disabled people will also benefit from these vehicles as their mobility, freedom, and income are expected to increase. </span></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-63b3994a-36ca-c976-2d97-d9b57ce5bb02"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Despite the shifting tides, driverless cars could add as much as <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/06/impact-of-autonomous-vehicles/">$7 trillion to the global economy</a></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. There will be winners and losers as with anything, but these vehicles will make our lives more efficient, safer, and convenient.</span></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-32711594281615213562017-09-19T00:03:00.000+01:002017-09-19T00:04:38.946+01:00Why Is The iPhone X So Expensive?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i>The iPhone X was revealed with much fanfare in Apple's new Cupertino HQ last week- but it wasn't just the personalised poop emojis, the wireless charging or the new display that stole the headlines...</i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisZl8aDGqEFxRahyphenhyphene3m3uzpojmUM6qTSkZtAxo5b79PYA9Z9jM4cHcKoTOf7OJ1OAXoRAghSOE0L-CvaZ2FKwBSGIatxwaONFapOFPL2QqH_JTpE_ULKgRcMZX1LaVdlgffwUF9Utpvm8/s1600/iphonex_TA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisZl8aDGqEFxRahyphenhyphene3m3uzpojmUM6qTSkZtAxo5b79PYA9Z9jM4cHcKoTOf7OJ1OAXoRAghSOE0L-CvaZ2FKwBSGIatxwaONFapOFPL2QqH_JTpE_ULKgRcMZX1LaVdlgffwUF9Utpvm8/s1600/iphonex_TA.jpg" /></a></div>
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The all-new iPhone X was proudly revealed by Apple CEO Tim Cook as the "biggest leap forward since the original iPhone". The device, which marks the 10-year anniversary of the iconic smartphone, features an all-new bezel-less OLED display, 'Face ID'- the most advanced facial recognition technology on a smartphone- and other new updates such as wireless charging.<br />
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Not only was iPhone X arguably the biggest leap in technology since the original iPhone, but it was in fact the greatest leap in price- at $999 dollars, it became the most expensive mass-market smartphone ever, $230 up from the iPhone 7 Plus. This significant price increase, and the landmark of the iPhone X becoming the first ever thousand-dollar smartphone, remains a significant talking point of the new device- and most of the coverage around the price has been negative. So, why exactly have Apple made the iPhone X so expensive?<br />
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The most obvious contributor to the increase in sale price is the increase in the cost of production. According to GSM Arena, the X <a href="http://www.gsmarena.com/iphone_x_real_cost_leaks-news-27293.php">costs $412.75 to produce</a>- compared to the <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2016/09/20/649-iphone-7-estimated-to-cost-apple-220-heres-the-component-breakdown/">$220 production cost of the iPhone 7</a>. This drastic increase in cost is the result of a significantly larger, OLED display, a new glass material, and also a larger standard storage of 64GB for the base iPhone X.<br />
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Interestingly, the only place Apple could source the new OLED display was from its smartphone rivals Samsung- no doubt, the Korean firm will have exercised this monopoly power to try to reduce the margins of its competitor.<br />
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The new design and technologies of the <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/09/11/iphone-x-supply-constraints-limit-apples-production-to-less-than-10000-units-per-day">iPhone X has also limited production capacity</a>. This is rumoured to be one of the reasons why there have only two colours offered at launch, as well as why the actual sale date is in November, despite the announcement coming in early September. As basic economics dictates, a lower supply is likely to induce higher prices, as people clamour to not miss out on this latest iPhone.<br />
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While this price increase is rather drastic, people often forget that it's not the first time Apple have introduced devices at a high price. Apple believe that the iPhone X is a whole new device- an iPad Pro to the iPad that is the iPhone 8, or a MacBook Pro to the iPhone 8's MacBook. This is especially evident when you see that the prices of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have actually increased from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj09B0ePX7PTv1nn5yuw7NLGTR5RswGKO7IWnbxN1_5WysZHOcV3TuKm6A1_YID3bZ8wFYEnNiuPk7n0GlRaeUSV4kND4I03qqtlHE81iPfffLGOm9APilES_nfqbJLsF6XJ6oI9Br7c9U/s1600/2010-10-26mba13vs-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj09B0ePX7PTv1nn5yuw7NLGTR5RswGKO7IWnbxN1_5WysZHOcV3TuKm6A1_YID3bZ8wFYEnNiuPk7n0GlRaeUSV4kND4I03qqtlHE81iPfffLGOm9APilES_nfqbJLsF6XJ6oI9Br7c9U/s320/2010-10-26mba13vs-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first MacBook Air (top) was succeeded by a<br />
more successful and affordable generation.<br />
Source: Engadget</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Historically, new Apple products as revolutionary as the iPhone X have provoked controversy due to their costs- the first generation MacBook Air, the 2015 MacBook and the Apple Watch are just three such devices. Experiences from these products have arguably given Apple the confidence to set a high price for the new iPhone. Where successful, Apple have been able to sell high volumes at high prices- and in slightly less successful cases, such as the launch of the first MacBook Air, Apple reduced prices over time as the new technology introduced became standardised in its line-up.<br />
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Apple knows that many people unwilling to pay $999 for the iPhone X will opt for the cheaper iPhone 8 instead- and this doesn't necessarily present a financial loss to Apple, given the lower production cost of the latter device.<br />
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And Apple also knows people will still buy the iPhone X. The massive marketing buzz around the product, and the sheer difference it represents from the usual iPhone lineup means that the device is undoubtedly going to sell in high volumes. It's likely, in fact, that the higher $999 price will be attractive to many customers. At a sub-conscious level, the round pricing of $999, essentially a thousand dollars, the idea of having a thousand dollar device will appeal to people who may want to own the device as a status symbol as well as a phone.<br />
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This type of product is known as a Veblen good- a product for which demand increases with price, in contrast to standard economics. At a sub-conscious level, the round pricing of $999, essentially a thousand dollars, the idea of having a thousand dollar device will appeal to people who may want to own the device as a status symbol as well as a phone.<br />
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A high pricing brings other potential smaller benefits for Apple. For example, when people spend as much as $999, the smaller purchases seem even smaller, and thus more appealing, to the buyer. For example, spending $100 on Apple's new AirPower wireless charging station seems less of an expense when you've spent $999 on an iPhone X than when you've spent $500 on a previous generation iPhone.<br />
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So while the increased production costs have introduced a necessity for Apple to raise the sale price of the iPhone for the new iPhone X, the decision to increase the price to as high as $999 is likely to prove a shrewd business decision for Apple, especially given the release of an updated iPhone 8 at a cheaper price. What remains to be seen, however, is whether Apple will eventually reduce the price of future generations of the iPhone X, as its technology becomes standardised in the iPhone range, or whether Apple is preparing the market for a shift to a new level of price for smartphones.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-78274773748355835442017-08-21T23:09:00.001+01:002017-08-21T23:17:01.336+01:00Should You Get Free Lunch In The Office?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i>By providing free meals, are offices providing gratuitous nourishment to their staff, or just locking them down in the office?</i></b><br />
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<b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-UnKCoaJlAXnU8Yb_QNtK6YLWl8tcWoEu_BWmqzI-QplwxWMzwBE2PfDHBaE2C9SvXvLg4_SO03XOOG98tbh1nKTsM5teUeHfHK33CJxh-5vWUN6T1qz2acnMol4cA_y7OMscT8cUIM/s1600/photo-6-1499790895101.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-UnKCoaJlAXnU8Yb_QNtK6YLWl8tcWoEu_BWmqzI-QplwxWMzwBE2PfDHBaE2C9SvXvLg4_SO03XOOG98tbh1nKTsM5teUeHfHK33CJxh-5vWUN6T1qz2acnMol4cA_y7OMscT8cUIM/s1600/photo-6-1499790895101.jpg" /></a></i></b><br />
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We've all heard (and, admit it, envied) those offices in which lies the promise of free food for all staff. Breakfast, lunch, and even dinner in some companies, is offered to employees, without a single penny leaving their pockets. These meals are not only free, but they are known generally to be higher quality than paid meals in other offices. </div>
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But, like they say, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Free food at work has a variety of effects on a workers' life- from obvious things like their weight, their time spent at the office, to the more subtle things, like how staff interact with each other and how the food can affect worker performance.</div>
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The most obvious benefit of this particular perk is that it makes the office a more welcoming place for employees, both increasing the satisfaction of current employees and making a job at that company more appealing for potential recruits. </div>
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Similarly, the most obvious cost of free meals at work, from an employers' perspective, is the cost of giving away food to employees. This cost has multiple layers: firstly, the employer must give up the cost of the staff, the facilities, and ingredients to make the meals themselves. Secondly, the employer gives up the potential for a small profit to be made by selling meals to employees at more than their cost price. And thirdly, the employer runs the risk of abuse of the system, which can lead to unexpected additional costs.</div>
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Despite this, massively successful companies such as Google are well-known to incorporate this practice into their offices. So the question is- why?<br />
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Perhaps even more significant than the direct benefits mentioned earlier, is the ability of a free meal in the office to win the employers more of its staff time. This starts with breakfast: providing the most important meal of the day for free increases the probability that staff will come to work sooner, reducing the level of tardiness. When it comes to lunch, employees are able to stay in the office, rather than head out to the shop to buy a meal deal. Removing this travel time, and keeping employees in the office, means lunch breaks are likely to be shorter when lunch is provided in the office.<br />
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Some companies like Google take the food offer further- even offering free dinner on-site. This increases the likelihood of late working nights- especially, in the case of Google, because many employees will be young and no doubt become dependent on meals provided by the office.<br />
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The numbers can prove that providing office meals genuinely brings greater benefits than cost*. Assume that, given the costs of ingredients, cooking facilities, staff, an economy of scale whatnot, the average cost of producing a meal is £6. Furthermore, reasonably assume lunch provided in the office increases an employee's working time by 15 minutes every day.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-GaNUhfVzkpMws_4pT0Bmku8TVb5rnZyim1njIIh-oFQ14nfomzlDox8A9ecYg-ejD3yqdqfbk5Pwr0_Fb56ByxgY8sHegUryMI-5tql9Gdy8P4C7p5YeFnWar0YlgF3ydDQAigiiyc/s1600/main-qimg-ce860cc14ee6caf5a9eee72a627e9f38-c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-GaNUhfVzkpMws_4pT0Bmku8TVb5rnZyim1njIIh-oFQ14nfomzlDox8A9ecYg-ejD3yqdqfbk5Pwr0_Fb56ByxgY8sHegUryMI-5tql9Gdy8P4C7p5YeFnWar0YlgF3ydDQAigiiyc/s320/main-qimg-ce860cc14ee6caf5a9eee72a627e9f38-c.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An example of the fine food on offer at Google<br />
(Credit: <a href="https://www.quora.com/profile/Michael-Krehan">Michael Krehan, Quora</a>)</td></tr>
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/google-uk-staff-salary-earned-2015">Google's average salary in the UK is reportedly £160,000</a>- though it's highly likely that this figure is skewed by the number of staff being paid 7 figure salaries, so assume a lower average salary of £120,000. This means roughly £2300 a week- £640 per working day, and thus, given a 9 hour working day, £71 an hour. By offering free meals, Google increases each employee's working time by 15 minutes- bringing an extra £17.75 of value, according to the £71 an hour pay estimation. The cost of this, according to our assumption, is £6- bringing a net benefit of £11.25. So, the cost of providing the free food is more than paid for by the additional productivity!<br />
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According to the above assumptions, a minimum average wage of £56,160 is required for a business to breakeven in their offer of free lunch. For most large businesses, this is not an unreasonable level.<br />
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From an employee perspective however, free hot meals can have negative effects, if not executed properly. A heavy meal can negatively impact worker performance, and in the long run, can lead to weight gain. Furthermore, some argue the shorter lunch breaks caused by on-site meals can negatively impact employee wellbeing over time.<br />
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Free lunch also brings intangible benefits. We emphasised in a previous article <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdRFa4QL7mGfaPo01x6TFHbzzru1GCOm_M3eeCj6huo4LooiKXtiwMGvs2_wmTDmv8cTgmYy4u3JFl2Qkakj0vCajLBivPs9n7VyMFQZ_61xATdwmYaD8ghIm3yBnuzgEpd7C6trHlxL0/s640/theoffice.jpeg">the significance of community spirit in any office.</a> By offering lunch in a single place, employees are more likely to eat with each other, rather than head their own separate ways, increasing the likelihood of relationships across the country developing.<br />
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So we have (loosely) proven that free lunch can bring net benefits to a successful business like Google. But does free lunch work for all businesses? No.<br />
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Massive businesses, hiring thousands of employees on a single site, may enjoy a larger economy of scale, but equally they may find it harder to monitor and control the free food. Smaller businesses are the least likely to offer free meals. Though it may be an emerging trend, particularly with Silicon Valley startups, most small businesses may not be able to invest in the facilities and staff for free office meals. Such businesses may instead decide to invest in something similar, like free snacks.<br />
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Free lunch works for most businesses that demand a lot from workers. Some businesses take the investment in such perks even further- for example, Google offers free laundry services in many offices for its employees. Such perks are luxuries- but through increasing employee satisfaction, and minimising time wasted by employees, investment in these things can provide significant benefits for the firm.<br />
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<i>*warning- an avalanche of assumptions is imminent...</i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-12470809932855202017-08-15T23:49:00.001+01:002017-08-15T23:53:42.305+01:00The Office - To Hot Desk, Cold Desk, or not Desk At All?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i>Can businesses increase their employee productivity if they let them work from anywhere- even from home?</i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9sZwtLIp3jKFSY50nrGv33Nd-73Ak-1lyXqRYT2rE3oA9H7BSnlgqZg7yD5W9RcNNmQOJmXhhZY81wU8b1LPDX2oIQ7aUv8HvGgrdRYX-EVFsFucdFP3ehfuU0ww-2ETdMwq6A2jyDZ4/s1600/apple-campus-2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9sZwtLIp3jKFSY50nrGv33Nd-73Ak-1lyXqRYT2rE3oA9H7BSnlgqZg7yD5W9RcNNmQOJmXhhZY81wU8b1LPDX2oIQ7aUv8HvGgrdRYX-EVFsFucdFP3ehfuU0ww-2ETdMwq6A2jyDZ4/s1600/apple-campus-2.jpg" /></a><br />
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Last week we discussed how businesses can work to keep their employees satisfied- we learnt how features of a job such as a trusting employee-employer relationship, the design of an office space, and a community atmosphere were crucial in keeping employees happy.<br />
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But this is not the end of the story- productivity is key, as it is the ultimate result of all the satisfaction and hard work put in by employees. Productivity is arguably the ultimate aim of any firm- it directly determines the overall output.<br />
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Like with employee satisfaction, the methods of improving productivity range from massive scale to very small details. The first feature we'll talk about today is<br />
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We mentioned last week that the atmosphere and design of an office can have significant psychological effects on those working in it. But the design of an office is equally crucial in determining productivity.<br />
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The traditional office that we are perhaps accustomed to is one that is desk-based, perhaps in cubicles or small sections, with each employee assigned their own desk to keep. However, a recent trend has emerged of what is called 'hot-desking'- where no employee actually has their own desk, but they are instead expected to come into work, unpack their things onto any open desk, and pack everything back up at the end of the day.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DXrE2NnLWoIa6VxNtCDc0-ihkEPxAAVQd66MN4vKZmheX_L3m0K-nMC_7oOAWGBHIUqojgktWHvMbnLgxCKkQbJY6jrZ32jJLJbP4-6jZZSoGXHjVRGetD7VlCD8P9HDo80J4LKqq7I/s1600/office_R1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DXrE2NnLWoIa6VxNtCDc0-ihkEPxAAVQd66MN4vKZmheX_L3m0K-nMC_7oOAWGBHIUqojgktWHvMbnLgxCKkQbJY6jrZ32jJLJbP4-6jZZSoGXHjVRGetD7VlCD8P9HDo80J4LKqq7I/s320/office_R1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Could empty desks be part and parcel of the office<br />
of the future?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the plus side, hot-desking is argued to save employers rather significant amounts of money. A study from Vodafone UK, whose Newbury HQ is entirely hot-desk based, <a href="https://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/configfiles/documents/contentdocuments/pdf_11032013_flexibleworking.pdf">£5,746 could be saved per desk per year</a> if an office is hot-desked. What's more, many argue that the nomadic behaviour brought on by hot-desking increases the opportunity for employees in a business to work with and get to know more people in the company, improving office relations.<br />
<br />
However, hot-desking has a number of reasons to be unpopular for. Some employees see their desk as a 'home away from home', often adorning it with photos, decorations, and also organisational aids, like a whiteboard. The lack of their own desk also reduces the potential for employees to store their items at work- instead they have to take things home each day. Hot desking removes this possibility, due to the fact that employees have to clear their desks at the end of every day. From a direct productivity standpoint, there are time savings to be had from a traditional assigned desk policy, particularly when accounting for the time each employee must spend setting and packing up each day, which may be small on a daily basis but add up over time.<br />
<br />
What's more, many argue that hot-desking doesn't always open the door for more relationships to be built. On the contrary, sitting next to new colleagues each day for some can make every day feel like their first, especially when considered that people in the office are not always so free as to get to know new people every day.<br />
<br />
Some argue that no desk at all is the way forward- ie., the office is a thing of the past, and benefits can be enjoyed by letting employees work from home. Though one can envisage issues with this proposal- notably the lowered opportunities of communication between teams, and the potential for employee distraction- there are well-defined benefits to enabling employees to work from home. Firstly, by allowing employees to work from home, businesses can hire the best talent, regardless of any other commitments potential employees may have (most notably, having kids to drop and pick up from school). Employees can enjoy a better work-life balance, improving their satisfaction with their job and opening potential for increased productivity. Employees save time and money on commuting, too.<br />
<br />
Businesses stand to save even more on office space and maintenance by allowing employees to work from home, and the wealth of video conferencing and document sharing platforms mean that employees can maintain communication wherever they are. Fewer sick days are expected to be taken by employees, and the lack of a trudge to the office every day may also reduce the employees' demand for leave days. And employees can use that hour or two spent commuting daily to do more work.<br />
<br />
All this adds up to improved productivity caused by allowing employees to work from home- <a href="https://hbr.org/2014/01/to-raise-productivity-let-more-employees-work-from-home">as much as 13.5%, according to a study by Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University.</a><br />
<br />
So, what should businesses do? The answer, as it so often does, depends largely on the individual circumstances of a business. Businesses whose work is done entirely digitally, like many modern tech firms, stand to benefit perhaps most from allowing employees to work from home, while of course working from home is not such a viable option for businesses involved in face to face sales. Whatever the business, the future of the office seems to be becoming far more dynamic and less building-based. Particularly due to its cost and productivity benefits, more and more businesses appear to be shifting focus from their physical offices to alternative workplaces.</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-32955893540168828502017-08-08T21:03:00.002+01:002017-08-08T21:13:15.300+01:00What's The Best Way To Keep Employees Satisfied?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><b>There's a reason why The Office is such a popular hit TV show, that has been subject to <a href="http://splitsider.com/2011/05/exploring-the-international-franchises-of-the-office/">numerous remakes from around the world.</a> While often exaggerated, the life of seemingly regular office workers relates to many, many people who can see glimpses of their own office in the TV show.</b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdRFa4QL7mGfaPo01x6TFHbzzru1GCOm_M3eeCj6huo4LooiKXtiwMGvs2_wmTDmv8cTgmYy4u3JFl2Qkakj0vCajLBivPs9n7VyMFQZ_61xATdwmYaD8ghIm3yBnuzgEpd7C6trHlxL0/s1600/theoffice.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="443" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdRFa4QL7mGfaPo01x6TFHbzzru1GCOm_M3eeCj6huo4LooiKXtiwMGvs2_wmTDmv8cTgmYy4u3JFl2Qkakj0vCajLBivPs9n7VyMFQZ_61xATdwmYaD8ghIm3yBnuzgEpd7C6trHlxL0/s640/theoffice.jpeg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-survey-to-sit-or-stand-almost-70-of-full-time-american-workers-hate-sitting-but-they-do-it-all-day-every-day-215804771.html">86% of American workers sit all day at work</a>- and the majority of these, like Michael Scott and co., are likely to be office workers. Given that the economy is driven by people working, the office is a generator for growth and economic success, and thus plays a key role in any nation's fortunes, let alone a company's.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqwyFVXMWV4jwuNasttEEk2mHmhG-3sFIFf8rgMPWAvoNAKF7GnePWOKGXmenq9YFd1Q1laIHCchUT2XaUVNrZ-qaOQlYiyi0Kgey2AjYloBi4feNLjTBnQ0khoI4CZ8VeKna3wMvyZlw/s1600/how-to-visit-the-googleplex-google-hq-mountain-view-57e2d4515f9b586c3529ba9c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqwyFVXMWV4jwuNasttEEk2mHmhG-3sFIFf8rgMPWAvoNAKF7GnePWOKGXmenq9YFd1Q1laIHCchUT2XaUVNrZ-qaOQlYiyi0Kgey2AjYloBi4feNLjTBnQ0khoI4CZ8VeKna3wMvyZlw/s320/how-to-visit-the-googleplex-google-hq-mountain-view-57e2d4515f9b586c3529ba9c.jpg" width="320" /></a>When it comes to how offices should be run, however, there is a distinctive lack of uniformity across businesses and countries. From the renowned 'Google-plex', the Silicon Valley HQ of Google, to the more traditional cubicle based offices that have existed for decades, the office today arguably plays the greatest role it ever has in the lives of employees.<br />
<br />
To begin looking at what kind of office brings the best results, we have to first determine what the desired result is. This will, of course, differ between businesses- but a safe assumption to make would be that a business seeks to maximise the productivity of its employees, taking cost into account. That is, the business wants to maximise output, while relatively minimising how much it pays for it.<br />
<br />
And to go deeper, what determines productivity? Again, there are an abundance of factors- but, for simplicity, we'll look at two of the biggest- employee <i>satisfaction</i>, and employee <i>organisation</i>. We'll be exploring the first of the two today.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Employee satisfaction</i></b><br />
The term 'satisfaction' is highly subjective, of course. Many people, usually those on the lower end of the income spectrum, will not be overly concerned with job satisfaction- sadly because many will not have the luxury of doing so. For people struggling financially, or with a lack of alternatives, hard work is a must.<br />
<br />
Recently, a trend of 'job-hopping' has emerged, particularly among the younger generation, who seem <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/12/news/economy/millennials-change-jobs-frequently/index.html">more willing than ever to switch between jobs.</a> They seek new challenges, new experiences, and for the more educated there is arguably more choice than ever, especially given the globalisation of the jobs market.<br />
<br />
Thus, some younger workers today are more sensitive to their satisfaction at work- which is why companies nowadays must invest significantly in their offices if they want to recruit the brightest young people.<br />
<br />
Not only does the prospect of job satisfaction help a business' recruitment, but it has been proven to improve performance on the job. A <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1331677X.2016.1163946">recent study from the University of Split in Croatia</a> concluded that "there was an impact of the majority of job satisfaction factors on organisational performance". This is rather common sense- people who feel happier at work are likely to spend more time at work, likely to be more willing to work and thus are likely to perform better (though there is little consensus on whether more hours = better results).<br />
<br />
The atmosphere of the office plays perhaps the most obvious role in determining employee satisfaction. This starts with the design of the office itself. <a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/complete-guide-apple-park-3489704/">Apple is not spending an expected $5bn on its beautiful new Apple Campus just for the sake of publicity</a>- but research has proven repeatedly that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep16899">a more scenic environment helps to improve wellbeing</a>, and thus productivity at work.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMINcaFi6FahCy-F2WSFQWVAQjyl4zd3FaFDPY7LBFXC65p18lGy9yE6ykyWaEMY_bngWXrOP_Js1l1JbhpIZKsLp9fU_vTrDofcr7Zwfko3r0yu9cx-3nmSuiQLyQsVtxns9rAD7ade4/s1600/campus1468504196639.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMINcaFi6FahCy-F2WSFQWVAQjyl4zd3FaFDPY7LBFXC65p18lGy9yE6ykyWaEMY_bngWXrOP_Js1l1JbhpIZKsLp9fU_vTrDofcr7Zwfko3r0yu9cx-3nmSuiQLyQsVtxns9rAD7ade4/s320/campus1468504196639.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apple's new 'Spaceship' head office in Palo Alto, California</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Psychology is key here- features of an office like an abundance of natural light, tall ceilings and even sufficient distance between workers and screens can impact the productivity of a worker. Evidently, this is not a discovery that works in favour of cubicle offices.<br />
<br />
The mental wellbeing of an employee also has to be cared for- gone are the days when a worker was just counted as a number. Businesses now have to realise the full human aspect of their employees, and this is where the support system in an office is crucial. A good HR department, and sufficient pastoral support for employees can generate substantial improvements in productivity.<br />
<br />
The employer-employee relationship must be a positive one. Bosses can no longer rely on fear, and their position of authority to bring sustainable results- they must be a lot smarter than that. They must take an active interest in their employees, and develop relationships that engender trust and loyalty from those who work for them. Different bosses will naturally have different styles that bring their results, but generally it is crucial that a boss is honest, considerate and open to their employees. Hating one's boss is such a common phenomenon that Hollywood got 2 films out of it- but in the real office, the boss-employee relationship is perhaps the most important of them all. <br />
<br />
Maintenance of a good work-life balance is also very important. Schemes such as paid maternity and paternity leave are in vogue, and <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjC-b7ftMjVAhXMYlAKHVkLC5MQFggrMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fblogs%2Feconomist-explains%2F2015%2F05%2Feconomist-explains-18&usg=AFQjCNEJsy-kE7_vU78modXf3ovpTeTzWw">for good reason</a>. Offering employees a 'sabbatical', time off to pursue other positive interests, also has a positive impact.<br />
<br />
A positive community atmosphere helps massively. Whether it is through creation of communal lunch spaces, office events and competitions, or perhaps most importantly a strong bond between employer and employee, a business must invest both time and money into the office community. Not only does it improve the team harmony, which can lead to more positive results in work, but it gives employees another reason to want to work. Of course, the time dedicated to such activities must be balanced with the actual time spent working. Anyone who has watched 'The Office' will know that practically nothing actually gets done when employees are too chummy with each other. But there is a school of thought that believes once employees are taken care of and in a positive state of mind, the employees themselves will be motivated, and feel a duty, to self-regulate and ensure they get their work complete.<br />
<br />
A positive workplace can have drastic impact on employee tenure- how long an employee stays with the business. As we mentioned earlier, the average tenure of an employee is decreasing these days- and there are both benefits and losses associated with these, that largely depend upon the firm. On the one hand, a high employee turnover rate can lead to a dynamic, fresh firm that does not get so entrenched in any old, perhaps flawed ways. On the other hand, such a high turnover requires significant investment by way of recruitment and induction, and perhaps has the adverse effect of reducing employees' loyalty to the firm.<br />
<br />
For example, a law firm is likely to desire greater employee tenure. It will want barristers who have experience in the court of law and the kind of clients the firm serves. On the other hand a management consultancy firm (for example McKinsey & Co., which has a notoriously low average tenure) may have an interest to refresh its workforce with new blood to keep up with the changing landscape of the business world. Of course, that's not to say firms with lower average tenure will deliberately create negative workplaces- they have '<i>other ways</i>' to ensure a lower tenure.<br />
<br />
In today's world, businesses have to focus on their employees' satisfaction more than ever, and to do so, many businesses will go to extraordinary lengths: whether it's Google's free gourmet meals for all employees (which we'll discuss more next week), or <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjY6vaktcjVAhXGYVAKHYLJA0sQFghRMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fuk.businessinsider.com%2Fuber-office-tour-2016-10&usg=AFQjCNFwgd9fJOtts49XHvXujDYgaoLhmg">Uber's super-cool office</a>, happier employees will generally perform better.<br />
<br />
The challenge that exists for the majority of businesses who are not Google or Uber is having the capacity to invest in such things. For these businesses, the cost of building a trendy office, or giving free food to all employees may not be financially viable (at least in the short run). This is where the less material aspects come into play. Small businesses can still offer career development opportunities to employees. Most small businesses can still create an open office atmosphere. Small businesses are suaully better, in fact, at fostering team spirit.<br />
<br />
So whether a company is a giant or a dwarf, it is key that it recognises the importance of employee satisfaction, and invest for long run productivity gains, one way or another.<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-15455050525887571692017-07-17T21:01:00.001+01:002017-07-18T12:30:16.325+01:00The Dark Side of Supermarket Warfare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">All competition is good competition... right?</span></i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLH3e9apxYfQcvKWaVuI4YJ_yJnG2dnGBqSlrwoH6JiiHeblBUflCdogjk5NJA2Rmf6A_ilunxG8yPEa61_n8Cbyd-HEwVDD7bEn9derS9p7KIYw0Ao9oAFf_QeJFpRSr37vCiw3uINw/s1600/Morrisons-opens-new-front-in-supermarket-price-war.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLH3e9apxYfQcvKWaVuI4YJ_yJnG2dnGBqSlrwoH6JiiHeblBUflCdogjk5NJA2Rmf6A_ilunxG8yPEa61_n8Cbyd-HEwVDD7bEn9derS9p7KIYw0Ao9oAFf_QeJFpRSr37vCiw3uINw/s1600/Morrisons-opens-new-front-in-supermarket-price-war.jpg" /></a><br />
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Entering through the doors of your local Tesco, you are not just entering a supermarket. You are entering a battleground. But in this battle, there are no guns or swords- instead, you'll find weapons of words scattered around the place- "I'm cheaper", "Brand Guarantee", and the like.<br />
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The supermarket industry has reached saturation point, and as a result, the players are all scrambling to win the pound in your pocket. One of the most prominent tactics to do this, that has risen to fame in the past decade, is the phenomenon of 'Price Matching'. The essence of this is that if you go to your local Tesco, for example, and find that the cereal you are buying could be had for less money in Sainsbury's, if you can prove this to the cashier at Tesco, they will match the cheaper Sainsbury's price in store. In some stores, the offer is made to go even lower than the competitor price.<br />
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Seems great, doesn't it? On the surface, yes. Competition is very important in any market, especially one that is as large a part of our daily lives as our supermarkets. Competition leads to better service, better stores, and, perhaps most importantly, lower cost to customers.<br />
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And at first glance, price matching seems to be competition set in stone by the supermarkets- a written promise to compete with each other. Furthermore, one could argue that price matching means setting low prices is not enough to compete- it arguably puts stores on a level playing field to compete on other aspects of the customer experience, such as customer service.<br />
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But not all is as rosy as it seems, because in reality, price matching is unlikely to lead to a better outcome for the consumer.<br />
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Firstly, the notion of price matching allows stores to set higher prices than competitors in the first place. Price matching means stores can attract those who are so sensitive to higher prices that they may have avoided the store if it wasn't a policy. In the case of direct price matching, where one store exactly matches, and doesn't beat, another store's price, the incentive to 'compete' and set truly lower prices is dulled. Essentially, price matching weakens the link between demand and supply that otherwise would drive a store to cut prices.<br />
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There are more practical arguments against price matching too. These are well set out in <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.559.7247&rep=rep1&type=pdf">Morten Hviid and Greg Shaffer's 1999 paper</a> on the subject, but in reality these weaknesses are not too difficult to comprehend.<br />
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Firstly, the procedure for actually gaining the right to a price match is not so simple- this is usually designed to be an inconvenience by supermarkets. For example, the very act of providing another store offers the same product at a cheaper price is often a hassle. The customer must provide written proof of the competitor's offer, usually a difficult task unless the customer is willing to travel between multiple stores in search of the best price. And if he does so, why would he then not purchase the product at the originally cheapest store?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOlBFEfNpWHGM_nRKs20BJUfDX4Eob_FSX-vw7jNaQIdRD9QhbFg7xAOz4bq2wbjMjlahXE2TZCbez4x4XLe-8qVcXGOw4nmX_aOWSARkGRfDt3EUXGlZ0G1exYdJbLe8TkKt271XUMgE/s1600/Tesco_ad_LR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOlBFEfNpWHGM_nRKs20BJUfDX4Eob_FSX-vw7jNaQIdRD9QhbFg7xAOz4bq2wbjMjlahXE2TZCbez4x4XLe-8qVcXGOw4nmX_aOWSARkGRfDt3EUXGlZ0G1exYdJbLe8TkKt271XUMgE/s320/Tesco_ad_LR.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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And once the proof is provided, the ultimate approval is given by the store- who may disagree that the two compared products are the same, or have some other quarrel with the proof provided. The terms and conditions make the process far less open than it first appears.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, as Hviid and Shaffer point out, "In every instance it takes longer to complete a transaction when price matching is requested than when it is not". This means there is a non-financial cost to entering a price matching deal, and often the amount you are saving is not enough to make this a cost worth bearing.<br />
<br />
So while price matching is indeed a form of competition, it is not as beneficial to the consumer as advertised. It arguably allows stores to be less proactive in setting low prices, and also provides many practical stumbles that to many consumers will just not be worth it. It's a form of what is called imperfect, <i>oligopolistic Bertrand</i> <i>competition</i>- in which there are a few firms who compete with each other on price. In theory, Bertrand competition leads to an optimal solution for the consumer. But the painstaking realities of the price matching process mean this, in practice, is far from the case.<br />
<br />
As consumers wise up to this reality, it seems some supermarkets are too- <a href="https://help.sainsburys.co.uk/help/offers-promotions/sainsburys-brand-match">Sainsburys announced the removal of their price matching program last year</a>, highlighting the need for "clear, simple pricing". The question that remains is whether other supermarkets will follow suit.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2United Kingdom55.378051 -3.4359729999999911.9874115 -86.40472299999999 90 79.53277700000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-6890361106182222262017-06-10T12:45:00.001+01:002017-06-10T13:01:53.327+01:00What Is A Hung Parliament?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLFd7mNzAxdQmoAihXSNS_PGRCBCC-iinLuhLO8Ow_ftGNz71Yyk5LH2iSVYu9unoEW-uXC5OkNjqiZBPzP_Bd84ZIvQf1h62Gn2OHOfvRslbEZoaP45pm0YLZd-GxZwmDUuTDaNZexsc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-06-10+at+12.45.13.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLFd7mNzAxdQmoAihXSNS_PGRCBCC-iinLuhLO8Ow_ftGNz71Yyk5LH2iSVYu9unoEW-uXC5OkNjqiZBPzP_Bd84ZIvQf1h62Gn2OHOfvRslbEZoaP45pm0YLZd-GxZwmDUuTDaNZexsc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-06-10+at+12.45.13.png" /></a></div>
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To say that the morning of Friday 9th June brought an unpleasant surprise to British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Conservative Party would be a massive understatement. Having been expected since by the mainstream media to wipe out Jeremy Corbyn, not only did the Tories themselves perform poorly and lose 13 seats, but Corbyn's Labour Party performed beyond expectations, gaining an extra 30 seats from 2015, and earning the largest vote share gain the party has gotten since 1945.</div>
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Theresa May is no doubt being force-fed copious amounts of humble pie, after this decision to hold a re-election that many are branding one of the worst political decisions in British history. The reasons for the defeat are pretty simple: on one hand, Theresa May ran a wooden campaign hiding in the shadows, and on the other, Jeremy Corbyn made the most of his party's superbly popular manifesto by doing one of the things he does best- going out on the road and connecting with ordinary people.</div>
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But despite May's humiliation and Corbyn's victory, the fact remains that the former is still Prime Minister. This comes as a result of the hung parliament that came from the election, and the Tories' alliance with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland.</div>
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<div>
<i><b>What is a hung parliament?</b></i></div>
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To define a hung parliament, first it's important to understand what exactly constitutes a victory in a British general election. </div>
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There are 650 seats in Parliament up for grabs throughout the UK, each for a certain area of the nation. To rule effectively, a party must rule 'in the majority'- that means to have more than half (at least 326) of the seats under their control. This means that if there is a future vote in Parliament, for example on a policy being passed, the ruling party can ensure that it is passed- because it can tell all of its party MPs to vote in favour.</div>
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Before Friday morning, a strong performance in 2015 meant that the Conservatives held 331 seats in Parliament, meaning a majority of 5. Theresa May held this re-election hoping to increase this figure- instead, following this election, Conservatives are 8 seats short of holding a majority.</div>
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<div>
Labour won 262 seats; while this was impressively 30 up from 2015, it was still far short of the Conservative number. So the Conservatives had won the most votes, most seats, and thus the election- but, they did not command a majority in Parliament, and neither did Labour. This outcome is a hung parliament.</div>
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<div>
<b><i>How common is a hung parliament?</i></b></div>
<div>
Hung parliaments are usually highly rare, but seem to be becoming less so, most probably due to the emergence of more non-mainstream political parties taking away votes from Labour and the Conservatives. Since 1929, there have been just 3 hung parliaments- in 1974, 2010, and now in 2017. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A winning party confronted by a hung parliament typically has 2 options:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>i) Coalition</i></div>
<div>
This was seen in 2010 when David Cameron's Conservatives failed to command a majority in the House of Commons, despite thumping the Labour Party and winning 48 more seats. 20 seats short, Cameron requested the support of the 3rd place Liberal Democrats, who had won 57 seats. In a formal coalition, this would effectively grant the new government a total of 363 seats, well clear of the majority threshold. Nick Clegg, the then-leader of the Liberal Democrats agreed to this coalition, and thus came the Coalition Government.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>ii) Rule in minority</i></div>
<div>
In February 1974, Labour under Harold Wilson won 301 seats, just 4 more than Ted Heath's Conservatives. However, rules dictate that if no party has a majority, the current Prime Minister has the first chance to try to form a new government, and this was Ted Heath. Heath tried, and failed, to form a coalition with the Ulster Unionist Party, and so consequently resigned, leaving the path clear for Wilson to take power. Wilson was also unable to command a majority via any coalition deal, but he ruled in minority. Knowing that in the long run, it would be highly difficult to pass through policy in a Parliament where Labour were a minority, Wilson announced an election for the October of that very year, where Labour won more comfortably to command a majority.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Theresa May has opted for a third route, a combination of these two options- a 'confidence and supply' agreement. This is a type of informal coalition, in which the DUP will promise its support in Parliament to the Conservative Party, with its 10 MPs granting Theresa May's government a working majority of 2. Of course, the DUP will expect some favours from Theresa May.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><i>Where does the UK go now?</i></b></div>
<div>
Far from 'strong and stable', May's government has come out of the election bruised and weak, leaving the Conservative Party worse off than they would have been without the election. The Prime Minister's own position as leader of the party is under jeopardy- <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjjv5-JmbPUAhWkI8AKHbUnDR0QqQIIMigAMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2F2017%2F06%2F09%2Fboris-johnsons-odds-becoming-prime-minister-slashed-amid-doubt%2F&usg=AFQjCNF2Uqbq8m1NcI0bkMHNlOTMWfQpYQ&sig2=qrRbRWSEXNg75EAwCD3eyg">Boris Johnson especially is rumoured to be sharpening his knives to take the throne</a>- and the Labour party are resurgent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The agreement with the DUP is necessary for the Tories to stay in power, but the fact that it leaves the government indebted to another party will not be something May will be totally satisfied with. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What is highly likely to happen amidst all this uncertainty is another election, likely to be close to the end of this year or the beginning of the next. In this, the Conservative Party (under the leadership of Theresa May or not) will seek to regain the majority of Parliament, and the Labour Party will seek to finally end years of electoral disappointment and take control. </div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-32427868289775184662017-01-11T22:30:00.001+00:002017-02-18T22:54:44.231+00:00Education Is King In South Korea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">The education systems of East and West are like chalk and cheese. <b>Mohammad Lone</b> outlines the South Korean attitude to education.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF875XoN3COx4BBuMmTo3bbYAphftdbcjFsjmmyi6C-HxB1JXM6_8DAobdGHv1bm5y_4cnwyLv3Y7_23zsSzmQG9v0lXs18pf8Dvd1W8H0A7FAqiaWS7uAvBz6S6hPgIvwgBeLGPQFG9U/s1600/RTR3A50Y_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF875XoN3COx4BBuMmTo3bbYAphftdbcjFsjmmyi6C-HxB1JXM6_8DAobdGHv1bm5y_4cnwyLv3Y7_23zsSzmQG9v0lXs18pf8Dvd1W8H0A7FAqiaWS7uAvBz6S6hPgIvwgBeLGPQFG9U/s1600/RTR3A50Y_0.jpg" /></a></div>
<i></i><br />
<i></i>
<b>Exams.</b> The bane of the student, yet the very thing that actually makes us 'students'. Having five exams in the space of 7 days this month, I'm in a bit of a pickle with regards to preparation and revision. It's a hard act of committing enough time to study and succeed in the exam, while committing enough rest time to maintain your sanity. And in one of these rare periods of rest I had, I flicked on a documentary on iPlayer, called <i>'School Swap'</i>- in which 3 Welsh teenagers were taken out of Pembrokeshire and plopped into the wealthy district of Gangnam (yes, <i>that</i> Gangnam) in Seoul, South Korea, where they were immersed into the life of a high performing Korean student the same age as them.<br />
<br />
The fascinating thing that the documentary highlighted was the stark contrast between not just the education systems, but the entire cultures of South Korea and the UK (and, to an extent, the West as a whole).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCvgPMOnpMfIqppuPihYkqBa197_9uhcWlsqEAXdCgKEDhRT9XiMdXRgcRU8hejXmbNF_X2ZIku9wOM8j8MPVQaOadgmeVwf-rM2Z_hCeBjVpPP4OvlrD_sbTmxL9GbG30K6pGwgp3GGg/s1600/_92700762_036434636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCvgPMOnpMfIqppuPihYkqBa197_9uhcWlsqEAXdCgKEDhRT9XiMdXRgcRU8hejXmbNF_X2ZIku9wOM8j8MPVQaOadgmeVwf-rM2Z_hCeBjVpPP4OvlrD_sbTmxL9GbG30K6pGwgp3GGg/s320/_92700762_036434636.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Korean parents praying en masse for their children's grades</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Education is king in South Korea. For parents, it is the highest priority for their child, to the extent that there are mass congregations of parents in temples, all praying for their childrens' grades, there are night schools that dominate many of the large streets in Seoul (called 'Hagwons'), and a <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj9wo6g2LXRAhUoJMAKHTwAD6AQFgggMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fjamesmarshallcrotty%2F2013%2F08%2F11%2Fsouth-korean-tutor-makes-4-million-a-year-can-you%2F&usg=AFQjCNGFRV4Si19lzlO26wQGI05W-PS2SA&sig2=iEpi6gMrpY-aWtRSXwR_0Q&bvm=bv.143423383,bs.2,d.d24">Maths tutor can become a celebrity figure earning around $4m a year.</a><br />
<br />
All this is in preparation for a single exam- the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). This is the test that plays a deciding role in which university a student will attend, and it is believed by many to hold the key to a student's whole career. The day of the CSAT is almost like a national event- whole schools of younger students line the streets to cheer on those taking the exam, government employees are allowed to come to work an hour later so students aren't hampered by traffic congestion, even flights are rescheduled on that morning to minimise noise or disturbance to students. The CSAT is a <i>massive </i>deal in South Korea; after all, it is pretty much the focus of a student's life for 17 years or so.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedNstkDVecXkTqOWPjcAS7C0stDe99j5rPvsZPRxb6wTQFErosDg0RoPoq2TolnYcPuakVcG8u1Y32M0ZKuxR6A2jPBiRFw3XhLg0xCazmDpkCbx69XzcxrAR3NeTZHGHJBF-mGP2A2s/s1600/Korea_College_Scholastic_Ability_Test_Day_Article_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedNstkDVecXkTqOWPjcAS7C0stDe99j5rPvsZPRxb6wTQFErosDg0RoPoq2TolnYcPuakVcG8u1Y32M0ZKuxR6A2jPBiRFw3XhLg0xCazmDpkCbx69XzcxrAR3NeTZHGHJBF-mGP2A2s/s320/Korea_College_Scholastic_Ability_Test_Day_Article_04.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Students gather to cheer on their seniors taking the CSAT</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Clearly, South Korea is reaping its rewards from the high emphasis on education. In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment#PISA_2015">2015 PISA tests</a> (from which a world academic is produced), South Korea came 7th in Maths, 10th in Science and 7th in Reading- as opposed to the UK, who came 27th, 14th and 22nd in those tests respectively. Such a gap in academic ability was demonstrated in the BBC documentary when a Welsh GCSE Maths paper was handed to a Korean class, who, with no previous experience of the format or style, devoured the paper like they had written the thing themselves.<br />
<br />
And this contrast is not just exclusive to these two countries- it is just a single part of the massive gap between East Asian and Western education systems. The 'leader of the free world', the USA, performed even worse than the UK in PISA 2015, coming a pitiful 40th in Maths, 24th in Science and 24th in Reading. This does beg the question of how many of the world's most highly held universities (Harvard, Oxford and the like) are in these two countries that seem to have weaker education systems than in Asia. One could argue that the Western education systems, while not as rigorous in perhaps mathematics or sciences, provides strength in other areas such as humanities and arts- but this is all for another piece.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYlxMqCbJFCyOE_9hxTHBc-ZYkK3H3IvkfRp3-zOrBVJmxmervOxgLeefKVrJ08i6gwr7kP3ZArVzLc79Gf17rvcfaVnHlcxuwvZI_f35jrH7sxRga2osHaWTuMElADIG9awgKRg9JPEM/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYlxMqCbJFCyOE_9hxTHBc-ZYkK3H3IvkfRp3-zOrBVJmxmervOxgLeefKVrJ08i6gwr7kP3ZArVzLc79Gf17rvcfaVnHlcxuwvZI_f35jrH7sxRga2osHaWTuMElADIG9awgKRg9JPEM/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Samsung, the world's second largest tech company,<br />
is one of the major success stories of S. Korea's <br />
explosive growth in recent decades.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Academic success has been a clear factor in the economic success of a lot of East Asia- South Korea is a great example of this. Exceptionally talented businessmen now head up Korean firms such as Samsung and Kia, both of which are proving to be ever more competitive global firms. Even on a more micro scale, the general work ethic and challenge that the Korean education system presents to its students to overcome has proven to contribute to Korea's stellar rise as a developed economy in recent decades. According to Sung Chulchung, a Professor at South Korea’s University of Science and Technology, “Without its <b>well-educated</b>, <b>strongly motivated</b> and <b>highly disciplined</b> workforce, South Korea wouldn’t have been able to achieve such success”. So South Korea is not just succeeding in the PISA scores- it is succeeding in creating a culture of discipline and strong work ethic in its people.<br />
<br />
An example of how this resilience is built up is in the make up of the school day- as an example, in the documentary, the Korean students were usually up (and studying) from 7-11pm, or even until midnight. The Welsh students, meanwhile, who were sent to shadow their Korean counterparts for just 3 days, could barely handle the first. There is much to be said about how long hours can be detrimental for an individual, much of which is valid, but there are certain life skills such a schedule develops- basic things, like waking up early, using time efficiently, that teens in many other countries are notoriously poor at. In Korea, for example, many schools punish late comers by making them come in earlier the next day to clean corridors.<br />
<br />
Teachers command much more respect in South Korea than in much of the West, which in turn leads to less time wasted in dishing out discipline and more time actually teaching.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, another aspect of Asian cultures in general is that such skills and attitudes are actively encouraged by parents, who invest incredible amounts of time and effort into their children. In much of Asia, it is not uncommon at all to hear parents saving up extra money to be able to fund extra tuition or academic resources for their children. In the documentary, one of the Korean families had relocated to a new home to get their son into a better school. Despite the fact the new house was smaller, it was more expensive- because everyone wanted to get into that school's catchment. Now of course, such behaviours can be seen across the world- but arguably not as visibly as in Asia.<br />
<br />
But this does come at a cost. As mentioned earlier, one could argue that the education system in S. Korea is too focused on fundamentals, which, while may be important, are considered by many not to be the entire point of going to school to get an education. Furthermore South Korean students ranked among the lowest in the world in terms of happiness, and, shockingly, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj13p7klLvRAhUjK8AKHa2UBNIQFggtMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish.yonhapnews.co.kr%2Fnational%2F2015%2F04%2F28%2F11%2F0302000000AEN20150428004700320F.html&usg=AFQjCNFeFP-1WnH2OwxRNprSkP_hgvZXcw&sig2=qhOcDF5ToeyLZ1MAt-30Uw&bvm=bv.143423383,d.d24">suicide is actually the <i>leading cause of death</i> among Korean teenagers.</a> This is not something to be taken lightly in the least. It raises a key question, that was raised by those 3 Welsh students who hopped over to Gangnam: the hagwons, the celebrity teachers, the CSAT and the stress and pressure that it brings to the Korean student- <i><b>is it all worth it?</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
Is it possible at all to have a system that simultaneously instils that work ethic, that academic prowess, into a student, as well as the soft skills, without such a shocking impact?<br />
<br />
<i><b>That's what we will discuss in the next part of this series, as we introduce a certain Scandinavian country which is also known to have an excellent education system- but for totally different reasons... </b></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-50615815345673663042016-12-14T01:09:00.002+00:002016-12-14T01:12:03.353+00:00What's Wrong With Airbnb? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">In the past decade a new wave of Silicon Valley start-ups have exploded into prominence, becoming part of our daily lives. Along with companies like Uber and Netflix, <b>Airbnb</b> is one of the top influencers in this new generation of businesses. But not all is as rosy as it seems...</span></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUs9r7KRqOvjiayspB6xfPru4rOIgOPEGdkJOHJmmmZBsS5ThKwyYKiWdL69wPCKqCpqDX4Wayc05I35prT7mXgaecZbZObCFB3sJSubk-zCtBmuF6RieTHGpbPt8gGeXHsaRFvAkavZQ/s1600/Temple-Airbnb-Logo.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUs9r7KRqOvjiayspB6xfPru4rOIgOPEGdkJOHJmmmZBsS5ThKwyYKiWdL69wPCKqCpqDX4Wayc05I35prT7mXgaecZbZObCFB3sJSubk-zCtBmuF6RieTHGpbPt8gGeXHsaRFvAkavZQ/s1600/Temple-Airbnb-Logo.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The concept of Airbnb is very simple.</span></b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwINrDI8KGsAsJxVzjmUmr2TmyX9rUpV4aHivPHNDpO4o0lHCbDIk6gENtQoVz9uh_1PYIo5L2o2N8B04ZVO33wCfXtCAVwgzkXo3PzdhdLZUQE8iBMu_s2hOPHNVRQbY9uVDmNychyyY/s1600/airbnb-vs-hotels-difference-by-city.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwINrDI8KGsAsJxVzjmUmr2TmyX9rUpV4aHivPHNDpO4o0lHCbDIk6gENtQoVz9uh_1PYIo5L2o2N8B04ZVO33wCfXtCAVwgzkXo3PzdhdLZUQE8iBMu_s2hOPHNVRQbY9uVDmNychyyY/s320/airbnb-vs-hotels-difference-by-city.png" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.busbud.com/blog/airbnb-vs-hotel-rates/">Source: Busbud.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
People can put their homes, apartments, lofts, spare rooms, even garages up for rent, and anyone can book them on a nightly basis. With over 2 million listings across more than 191 countries, the expansion of Airbnb has been incredible. The popularity is due to a number of reasons- not least of which are the facts that using Airbnb is incredibly easy, and, on average, a cheaper option than alternatives like booking a hotel room. It also gives people going on holiday or with spare rooms a chance to make an extra buck.<br />
<br />
So, on the face of it, there do not seem to be any significant issues with the concept. However, the scale of Airbnb has meant that it has had rather significant implications on the property markets in which it operates. Put short- Airbnb is contributing to the economic cleansing happening in city centres throughout the world.<br />
<br />
Economic cleansing is perhaps a rather emotive term to use, but this is, in essence, what has been happening, as landlords have sought to take advantage of the more lucrative short-term let market that it offers.<br />
<br />
To realise the impact of Airbnb, some rough context of the property market is necessary. You've got two types of property rentals: short-term lets, and long-term lets. Long-term lets are usually taken out by people for whom the property becomes their home, whereas short-term lets are more common for vacationers. Here's the thing: short-term lets, due to their short nature, are more lucrative for landlords than long-term lets. But they come with the risk, that they are not guaranteed- while a long-term renter will mean you have someone always occupying your property and paying rent, relying on short-term rentals could leave you as a landlord with dry periods.<br />
<br />
But in comes Airbnb, making it easier than ever for people to find short-term lets wherever they are going. The result of this is that fewer travellers choose to stay in hotels*, instead opting what may be a cheaper, or more unique Airbnb rental. So demand for short-term lets is increased- meaning landlords face less risk of facing that dry period in between short-term lets.<br />
<br />
Seeing this risk reduced leads to many landlords deciding to pursue lucrative short-term lets- this means that many landlords will have to evict their existing long-term tenants. So, this happening on a large scale means that many people will be left looking for housing in city centres, but there will be fewer properties to choose from- because many landlords may have converted theirs into short-term exclusives. So, in a city there will be <b><i>more demand</i></b> for housing, but <i><b>less supply</b></i>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVa_lLzA-6HHrOOde_rn-CXxaX1U2JwuLTSDMG9AODgQesjMxqP_WysWOLvp9EnrKw7rQURqq3IMQiuSn-EGx-lO_UAYixaLiZx6vQfh1pEY4LRh4Bo-4xGI8MXYKQyifHf3TjLCTlBxg/s1600/1111452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVa_lLzA-6HHrOOde_rn-CXxaX1U2JwuLTSDMG9AODgQesjMxqP_WysWOLvp9EnrKw7rQURqq3IMQiuSn-EGx-lO_UAYixaLiZx6vQfh1pEY4LRh4Bo-4xGI8MXYKQyifHf3TjLCTlBxg/s320/1111452.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There are significant housing crises in many of today's<br />
major cities. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Whenever there is more demand and less supply, prices rise. People become desperate to find housing, and the landlords still renting long-term know this- so they can jack their prices up and still find a renter. This results in significant numbers of poorer people (and even people who'd be considered well-off elsewhere) being forced to leave their area in search of affordable housing.<br />
<br />
Most demand for Airbnb lets, and generally the most expensive/desirable areas of a city are in the centre- so this is where people are being forced out, 'cleansed', from. London, for example, is an example of a city where such 'economic cleansing' has taken place, due to a severe lack of affordable housing. Since 2011, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/93c90dc2-76b5-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a">London rents have increased by a staggering 48%, compared to incomes rising by just 11%.</a> New York City and San Francisco face similar troubles, with housing in city centre areas becoming increasingly out of reach for those not on 6 (or in many cases even 7) figure salaries. Of course, Airbnb is not solely to blame for this- foreign investment and failed government policies are both arguably more responsible- but amazingly, the success of this one company has had the power to exacerbate these crises that exist.<br />
<br />
The problems caused by such a crisis are wide-reaching: homelessness, work issues and strain on infrastructure (for example, trains) are just a few.<br />
<br />
This problem is why many cities seem to be waging war against Airbnb, using their weapon of regulation. For example, it is illegal in New York City to rent out a full apartment for fewer than 30 days**. While such regulation was previously battled against tooth and nail by Airbnb, it seems to have taken on a different tune just this month; dropping the lawsuit it took against NYC regulators, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/03/airbnb-regulation-london-amsterdam-housing">even agreeing to abide by similar regulations in London and Amsterdam.</a><br />
<br />
<i>* Recent study by Zervas, Proserpio and Byers in USA concluded in their study of Texan demand for hotels that Airbnb's entrance into the market "has had a quantifiable negative impact on local hotel revenue". <a href="http://cs-people.bu.edu/dproserp/papers/airbnb.pdf">Click here to view the study.</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>** No doubt, it's important to remember there is a high possibility that such regulations are also being lobbied for by the hotel industry- just a thought.</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4Bath, UK51.375801 -2.35990390000006351.296087 -2.521952400000063 51.455515000000005 -2.197855400000063tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-37467498109895183042016-12-02T18:11:00.000+00:002016-12-02T18:13:14.680+00:00What Happens When 86% Of A Country's Cash Is Made Worthless Overnight<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><b>One evening in early November, unscheduled and by surprise, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on a televised broadcast that the 500 and 1000 rupee notes that constitute 86% of all cash in India, would be worthless the next day.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7GKsdGCwYgL8gULXZBOp1MHzshR4OwnRE4s1_6kmh1qLdiK9JJ0WpvVNQV0A4rrhKfN1X_7lQ60NTterLFHPFrFSri2bCu4IC4AOTnciUnOoRQSLY0nd7TqP1jIqEuVlGx0o7QIM3Dmk/s1600/queue-6-004.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7GKsdGCwYgL8gULXZBOp1MHzshR4OwnRE4s1_6kmh1qLdiK9JJ0WpvVNQV0A4rrhKfN1X_7lQ60NTterLFHPFrFSri2bCu4IC4AOTnciUnOoRQSLY0nd7TqP1jIqEuVlGx0o7QIM3Dmk/s1600/queue-6-004.jpg" /></a></b></i><br />
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The announcement made on the very same day as the 2016 US Presidential election (perhaps a clever ruse to divert global attention) caused shockwaves throughout the country. To invalidate such a massive portion of cash in the economy was one thing; to enforce this just hours after the public announcement further shocked people.<br />
<br />
But this element of surprise was a necessary one for Modi's intention behind this drastic policy- that is, to eradicate 'black money', money that is sheltered from tax authorities and used in illegal activities. So Modi's announcement came so immediately in order to spread a wave of panic among agents of the black market. "There is no shortage of money in India, the problem lies in where the money is.", the Indian Prime Minister asserted at a rally following the announcement.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-9bbnitGxlSnc2csUjTZBQVvxSTlXsfryGzKowhqJsJIfWAe41k77CcyS_E0UEBuHdaJiFEeYDmlxIBD_L5JbUJSX6zEjiyL1tl_CR_R9AJJsxO_IemHzf5pZqm6WKe6TUeLceXSNZME/s1600/_92323701_image1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-9bbnitGxlSnc2csUjTZBQVvxSTlXsfryGzKowhqJsJIfWAe41k77CcyS_E0UEBuHdaJiFEeYDmlxIBD_L5JbUJSX6zEjiyL1tl_CR_R9AJJsxO_IemHzf5pZqm6WKe6TUeLceXSNZME/s320/_92323701_image1.jpg" width="320" /></a>So anyone with 500 and 1000 rupee notes, from the 9th of November onwards, could not use it as legal tender. But, they could be used as deposits to bank or post office accounts, or they could be exchanged with sufficient ID at a bank or post office. This was not unregulated, however- you couldn't just go with all of your notes to exchange or deposit them. There were limits set on the amount you could make use of in one transaction or one day.<br />
<br />
<b><i>"The poor who have welcomed the decision are sleeping peacefully, while those with black money are looking for sleeping pills."</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
This was what Modi told his supporters at a party rally as he revelled in what he believes to be a successful implementation of his policy.<br />
<br />
The policy has indeed gone some way to weed out black money and illicit activities. Forcing people to 'register' their money by exchanging or depositing at a bank means they can be investigated- especially in suspicious circumstances, like if they try to deposit a massive amount into the bank at once. It allows the tax authorities to take register of potential black market agents.<br />
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And indeed, numerous seizures of unaccounted money were made within just days of the demonetisation.<br />
<br />
But the major question to consider is whether this dramatic policy has been worth it. Because as well as the positive of criminals being exposed, there are a multitude of heavy costs this move has had on the Indian people.<br />
<br />
Firstly, it's highly questionable whether the poor are "sleeping peacefully" as Modi claims, because arguably more than anyone else, they have been hit the hardest by this. <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/economy/what-government-plans-to-do-with-the-old-rs-500-1000-notes/98-of-all-consumer-payments-in-india-use-cash/slideshow/55579468.cms">Cash is used for 98% of all consumer transactions in India</a>, and the developing popularity of credit and debit cards, particularly among urban middle and upper class Indians, means that this figure is likely to be even higher when we consider rural lower class Indians alone. The rural economy is pretty much entirely cash based.<br />
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One might argue, what is to stop these rural Indians going to their local bank or post office and exchanging or depositing the money? Especially to Westerners who have heard numerous stories of India's massive economic growth and development, this might be a pertinent question. But the primary issue here is hidden from us by the tall buildings of Delhi, Mumbai and so on. In the rural areas, very few Indians have neither bank accounts to deposit their 500 and 1000 rupee notes into, nor do they have the official documentation and identification to exchange it.<br />
<br />
Not only do poor Indians therefore lose significant amounts of their already pitiful savings, but their very livelihood is threatened. According to the Economist, <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21711040-narendra-modi-needs-take-measures-mitigate-damage-his-rupee-reform-has-done-indias">over 80% of India's workers work in the 'informal' sector</a>- that is, they are paid in cash. As a result, many of these workers may have not only lost significant amounts of what they <i>have</i> earned, but cash constraints mean many of them have been laid off by their employers, putting their future into freefall.<br />
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What's more, those with the ability to deposit or exchange their money haven't exactly had a ball either. This has been one of the most shambolically executed monetary changes ever witnessed- lack of administrative capacity, and even a lack of cash money available to replace the outgoing notes, have resulted in massive queues and general chaos, reminiscent of a country in the midst of a bank run or severe economic crisis.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeopeW8FGcQaUdmTjl2U2zFelAIgs_y8QhTskayu7zcZKkAIilrU6Vt-zK7yfpoMZnsNPFz4Iph8K4-b_lydmg8p1VntcK5pRGyt5j3rBPJzNCJoOlZhKjPXwA9hYRs12FLAUxoFO4fk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-12-02+at+17.45.02.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeopeW8FGcQaUdmTjl2U2zFelAIgs_y8QhTskayu7zcZKkAIilrU6Vt-zK7yfpoMZnsNPFz4Iph8K4-b_lydmg8p1VntcK5pRGyt5j3rBPJzNCJoOlZhKjPXwA9hYRs12FLAUxoFO4fk/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-12-02+at+17.45.02.png" width="232" /></a>Admittedly, this chaos has created sparked the creativity in many Indians. The days after the announcement saw record rail ticket sales, particularly in first class ticket seats for long journeys- suspected to be bought with 500 and 1000 rupee notes to return later on in exchange for valid currency. It has created <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/28/india-bank-lines-controversy-cash-for-queuing">some employment in the form of people paid to stand in queue for others.</a> Those unable to afford this have simply put their name on a piece of paper, settled on the ground with a stone on top to represent their place in line. The restrictions on how much can be exchanged in a day have left many Indians reliant on cash struggling to afford their daily needs, such as food and rent.<br />
<br />
But there has been severe faults that put all the joviality into the shadow. <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/demonetisation-suicides-heart-attacks-and-even-a-murder-among-33-deaths-since-decision-4378135/">33 people died between the 8th and 18th of November, </a>with their deaths directly or indirectly linked to demonetisation and the chaos that has ensued. Exhaustion in queuing and suicide has been one of the primary causes, but in more shocking cases, people have been left unable to pay hospital bills, leading to denial of service and in a number of cases, death as a result.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrOtXaVgeS2oipNPLcHxsyz6qcWciAtf4nFruZDlvauyve_Lz9Cgzwlmr99nOwARh9WKvMa2kCkn5-16evmHnfW1HDJqKkh2B0KZBpeA1TjFv52b0SzwYbnDDVzLsxx-YSwdlOTlCmoo/s1600/Kaushik_Basu_na2810.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrOtXaVgeS2oipNPLcHxsyz6qcWciAtf4nFruZDlvauyve_Lz9Cgzwlmr99nOwARh9WKvMa2kCkn5-16evmHnfW1HDJqKkh2B0KZBpeA1TjFv52b0SzwYbnDDVzLsxx-YSwdlOTlCmoo/s320/Kaushik_Basu_na2810.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prominent economists, including Kaushik Basu, Chief<br />
Economist at the World Bank, have come out against<br />
Modi's demonetisation.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Economic growth is also expected by most to be stunted as a result of demonetisation- forecasts for India's GDP growth have fallen by as much as 0.5%, and former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stated that he expects GDP to fall by as much as 2% as a result of his successor's policy. The scheme "will hurt agricultural growth in our country, will hurt small industry, will hurt all of those people who are in the informal sector of the economy", the former PM stated publicly.<br />
<br />
Concerns have also been raised over whether the policy will fulfil its intended role of weeding out the black market. Renowned Indian economist <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-37970965">Kaushik Basu</a> has claimed that the economics of the policy are "complex" and that "the collateral damage is likely to far outstrip the benefits". <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/11/09/heres-what-raghuram-rajan-thinks-of-currency-demonetisation/">Raghuram Rajan</a>, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, believes that those targeted by demonetisation "find clever ways around it", meaning many remain perhaps inconvenienced, but unscathed on the whole.<br />
<br />
So far, the policy represents the Indian government failing in its duty to the poorest in the country. The middle and upper class are relatively well off- a survey done by the Government on a smartphone app showed 90% of respondents to be in favour of the move- the large majority of the Indian population unable to enjoy the luxury of a smartphone have gone unheard. There is almost no doubt that the rural poorer Indians are the true ones who have been hit, and hit hard. And even the wealthier, urbanites of India could be hit, as overall economic growth slows as expected.<br />
<br />
This all comes because not only does this policy represent bad economics, but its implementation has been poor. It makes one wonder whether the whole plan for demonetisation was just as rushed and immediate as its announcement.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-33491663197751228902016-11-16T11:27:00.000+00:002016-12-05T11:28:31.778+00:00The New Age of Populism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In recent years, anti-establishment, anti-immigration and
far right views have been brewing across western nations, festering in areas
rife with poverty and unemployment, loitering in the background, like the ever patient
predator, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpoTilufv6itk1CIjAnbItVa0db5grebfjN-I3-_fe7GgewjPWwCa-P5p3MjH-MWPyJxp3OQm12HPGjX6Qtz5uRE1nBQfypxiFlDBG7MBycqCQO0Tias6EgEd21ORtYFesKnyfuPWXtBg/s1600/Donald-Trump-Cartoon.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpoTilufv6itk1CIjAnbItVa0db5grebfjN-I3-_fe7GgewjPWwCa-P5p3MjH-MWPyJxp3OQm12HPGjX6Qtz5uRE1nBQfypxiFlDBG7MBycqCQO0Tias6EgEd21ORtYFesKnyfuPWXtBg/s1600/Donald-Trump-Cartoon.png" /></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQzJ2bzCOqReZCTkTX4FG7PEFMH7yQ84C8J-MC_5ZABQXfONTvltvxFnaHEJE64zfJ-T6gbOh-uK2JI8hXjRJOftzs2hsrR23WKtNdJxMMe0lGYOcpq7u0vybXzUDvRJcUORtCxlkeoQ/s1600/JR+Author+Label.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQzJ2bzCOqReZCTkTX4FG7PEFMH7yQ84C8J-MC_5ZABQXfONTvltvxFnaHEJE64zfJ-T6gbOh-uK2JI8hXjRJOftzs2hsrR23WKtNdJxMMe0lGYOcpq7u0vybXzUDvRJcUORtCxlkeoQ/s200/JR+Author+Label.png" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That moment was the 9<sup>th</sup> of November 2016. The
election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, like a snake rattling its tail, there have been
warnings of the fatal strike to come. Britain’s vote to leave the EU and the
rise of anti-immigration populist parties across much of continental Europe
like NPD and PEGIDA was evidence of the mounting threat of far right extremism
and white populism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Denmark, for instance, is 88 percent white Danish today —
hardly a majority in jeopardy. But a generation ago, in 1980, it was 97 percent
white. The anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party is now the second-largest party
in the Danish Parliament. In Germany, where the foreign-born population shot up
by approximately 75 percent between 2011 and 2015, the anti-immigrant, populist
Alternative for Germany party is now drawing record support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marine Le Pen, a far right politician is also
gaining momentum in her bid for the French presidency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">President elect Donald Trump noticed this trend and cleverly
captivated on it, using it to become the most powerful man in the world. He
recognised that a significant amount of the American people had minimal trust
in the Government, who they believed favoured the elite and no one else. I must
also clarify that my reference to ‘white’ populism is not only directed at the
Caucasian population, but the majority group who have always enjoyed the
privileges society has to offer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A group Mr Trump has been a part of his entire life, yet he
still managed to convince a large majority of the American people, he was one
of them - a man of the people, who has come to unleash America from the
clutches of corruption. How you may ask incredulously?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He preyed on their desperation for change. He appealed to a
significant amount of Americans, who were undergoing a ‘white’ identity crisis.
These individuals want to go back to the past, when America was ‘great’ and
being white gave you an advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These individuals long to return to a time filled with
Crime, Injustice and Corruption. A time in which white supremacy was rife and
dominated America and Mr Trump gave them hope of returning to that past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what next?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wave of far right extremism that has jumped from nation
to nation doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is this the new age of Politics we live in? Only time will
tell. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing is for certain, if we do not halt this onslaught
of far right extremist politics, the world will be taking a major step back and
as we know, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat its
mistakes. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-40373490476426574682016-11-10T21:05:00.000+00:002016-11-10T21:05:54.683+00:00Trump Did Not Win It, Clinton Lost It<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3>
<i>
James Dancey warned that if Clinton did not change her tune
that she would lose. Now he looks at why it was her own campaign that undermined
her. </i></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNYzMHkwlqzpZthDBMQKSx0XBsGSMbn4kKi4N-UVY4KK6T7Phekks_H3g58kC7PRu-Gr1fXJQfFrZW0vwtivCWsL6br9lZfHIBZ33z7iTNW0rAltFa44RJ0FXURT35bn2AHpGqTvnPes/s1600/clinton-vs-trump-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNYzMHkwlqzpZthDBMQKSx0XBsGSMbn4kKi4N-UVY4KK6T7Phekks_H3g58kC7PRu-Gr1fXJQfFrZW0vwtivCWsL6br9lZfHIBZ33z7iTNW0rAltFa44RJ0FXURT35bn2AHpGqTvnPes/s1600/clinton-vs-trump-1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFCbdvPVpzH5NW4WFA226FiWC_afCSH7H8dhjO6_v66UmtW4QHdePFNdjslrxLOywldRv284OsdlysrfWFwMwVmxPr_M_panbll47WURFUwbbj7BGV_L7Myxafviw4Nh77lNtFIAme-wA/s1600/JD+Author+label.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFCbdvPVpzH5NW4WFA226FiWC_afCSH7H8dhjO6_v66UmtW4QHdePFNdjslrxLOywldRv284OsdlysrfWFwMwVmxPr_M_panbll47WURFUwbbj7BGV_L7Myxafviw4Nh77lNtFIAme-wA/s400/JD+Author+label.png" /></a>It was the morning after the election, whereas many people
were waking up; I was just about to go to sleep, after watching Trump embarrass
Hillary in many marginal states I thought it was best for me to call it a
night. I had spent the previous hours of darkness speaking to many Americans,
Clinton and Trump supporting and seeing the gradual change in reaction as the
results came in. Clinton, who had spent 8 years waiting for the opportunity to
run for President since the last attempt had once again failed, this time she
had not lost to the charismatic, personable Obama, but to the aggressive,
polarising, controversial Trump. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trump was terrible, some of his actions reprehensible, and his
self- control left much to be desired, he was entangled in multiple scandals
for the many problematic words he had proclaimed. With all the allegations of narcissism,
sexism and racism coming in, many people would ask how he could win. I’d like
to ask how Hillary let him win.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In one of my previous publications about how Clinton has a
terrible tendency to talk down to the public, I wrote that if she did not
change her tune she would lose. She didn’t, and she lost. This was clearly
reflected in the discourse, but there were other matters at hand that she also
fumbled on greatly. The emails didn’t help, it was exposed that she had cheated
during the Democratic debates with leaked questions, and was involved in the DNC
which doomed Bernie Sanders into the barrel of should’ve been leaders. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, that’s pretty bad, but it’s no worse than what Trump has
done, why did it damage her reputation so much more than her Republican
counterpart’s? Clinton had created this image, that she was this clean,
honourable, righteous advocate for social justice, the scandals painted her as
this crooked, establishment figure focused solely on self-interest. This
specific representation of her undermined the character she had originally displayed
to the public, which destroys the trust that they would in her. This can be
contrasted in Trump, who always flaunted himself as this aggressive, impolite
chauvinist, so a lot of what the media criticised him for didn’t really wash. The
media played an important role in feeding Trump’s narrative, that there was
this big, bad establishment exclusively driven to prevent this avant-garde
insurgent from attaining the keys to the White House. Clinton’s campaign ads
also played into Trump’s narrative, always looking for reasons to not vote
Trump rather than reasons to vote Clinton. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, none of this would’ve mattered if the Democrats had
fielded a better candidate, Clinton still won the popular vote (albeit by a
very small margin), and a majority of the US population are by no means
pro-Trump. Nonetheless, Bernie was waiting in the wings, he would’ve motivated
and inspired many Americans with his cross-party and swing state appeal (he has
been an Independent senator for Vermont) and the polls had him as absolutely
trouncing Trump, yet the Democrats decided to take a risk with their
corporatist puppet and lost. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I endorsed neither Clinton, nor Trump, from my perspective
they were both terrible in their own unique ways. Nevertheless, I could see a
Trump win coming from a mile away, people are tired of Hillary’s brand of
stale, cliché politics, and her dangerously low charisma. They might as well
have propped her corpse up on the podium and no-one would’ve noticed. They
should’ve heeded the warnings from Brexit, people are tired of being told what
to do and how to do it, and now the American people will live with the
implications from a tired, washed-out elite’s myopic decisions.</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12187772381917436644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-26335872923659565762016-11-09T08:04:00.002+00:002016-11-09T08:06:54.023+00:00Why Donald Trump Is Now The President of the USA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><b>The Donald has done it. </b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqxNQn4ip63non0eoIKLA9jwXHdeGcWEumBIXGXnrX3BMtX3AhtdxJ0YSKjmpZniHrnOfai8Ty3Xs7iXuyE4i-zjDnkzI4V3qTVuGn5z9bMWsumDRrvItzWY8iFPQ-AJz2NTplvyU8FlM/s1600/o-DONALD-TRUMP-facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqxNQn4ip63non0eoIKLA9jwXHdeGcWEumBIXGXnrX3BMtX3AhtdxJ0YSKjmpZniHrnOfai8Ty3Xs7iXuyE4i-zjDnkzI4V3qTVuGn5z9bMWsumDRrvItzWY8iFPQ-AJz2NTplvyU8FlM/s1600/o-DONALD-TRUMP-facebook.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i>How did this happen? Why did it happen?</i> These questions are abound across the globe, as people wake up to news that the former reality TV star has now taken his seat as the leader of the world's richest and most powerful nation.<br />
<br />
Donald Trump's own appeal is obvious, whether you agree with his views or not. His bigoted, nuance-free and racist views and proposals appealed to the evident mass of Americans who may have until now been hiding their views from an environment deemed too 'politically correct'. From the moment Trump glided down the escalators of his New York tower to announce his candidacy, making ridiculous blanket claims about Mexican immigrants, these people felt empowered. And when Trump pledged to ban Muslims from entering the USA, they felt empowered. Finally, they thought. Someone is putting out what we've been thinking all along into the public sphere.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_h37psXoQ5sIZBHRm7vkrEEGsBoLgd-1if2x6QLqRn1zW5yRiIqO66fsvy3cEwJHFYbR8jZbWfsDg4Z05hn32tbmgX_lSb5-vLLo3jAjKsvpAn7DKNbrYBIVd-1rdsjvvGPIWBxTkeY/s1600/GOP-2016-Trump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_h37psXoQ5sIZBHRm7vkrEEGsBoLgd-1if2x6QLqRn1zW5yRiIqO66fsvy3cEwJHFYbR8jZbWfsDg4Z05hn32tbmgX_lSb5-vLLo3jAjKsvpAn7DKNbrYBIVd-1rdsjvvGPIWBxTkeY/s320/GOP-2016-Trump.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Donald Trump's rallies held a cult-like buzz that was<br />
unparalleled by Hillary Clinton.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Trump empowered the racists in American communities, something that was clearly visible before the vote, at his infamously raucous campaign rallies.<br />
<br />
But it goes deeper than this; statistics show that a significant majority of Trump's voters were either poor, lacked college education, or both. We could write a whole book about why so many Americans are in these demographics- but one of the significant causes is lack of access to higher education. Education that is inaccessible to so many has proven a barrier to informed voting decisions, and has further increased the power of meaningless, simplistic rhetoric ('Make America Great Again') and fanciful promises.<br />
<br />
But it wasn't just the racists and bigots who formed Trump's support. So many more people voted for Trump for a simple reason; they are sick of the corporatist Establishment. The political elite that have transgressed the boundaries of right and left wing, supported by and doing the bidding of massive corporations, regardless of the impact on the public. It's the Establishment that were largely responsible for catastrophes- whether it's the Iraq War, or the 2008 Financial Crisis.<br />
<br />
And Trump, right from the start, made it clear he was not part of the Establishment. During the GOP Primaries, he stood out for his constant criticisms of his competing Republican candidates as puppets of wealthy donors. His outspoken and unpredictable nature makes him a nightmare for those who would want to try to take control of his policymaking. And after years and years of the status quo in the Oval Office, people wanted something new, something fresh.<br />
<br />
On the left, this desire manifested itself in Bernie Sanders taking Clinton right to the wire in the Democratic primary. On the right, it has led to today- Trump going against the initial odds to become President.<br />
<br />
But as much as Donald Trump was responsible for standing out in this election as the anti-Establishment candidate, it's the DNC's fault for putting out perhaps the worst response they possibly could to Trump.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaY3oomwueb6QK5aEbLrlLMZbfWMfxK9hUJRQzlv0jlaxGT7g5bLtVy9oe3W1-FW3GmGjmd29xH3Rz_hq4UIW3CRbSu6BhHg6aC1y-nGBomoF_TKoMT-1VgAsCZPC2nQ5QDfELBZHvYsQ/s1600/51056208f08c7cd595c97ecbf1fd83611472053034581.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaY3oomwueb6QK5aEbLrlLMZbfWMfxK9hUJRQzlv0jlaxGT7g5bLtVy9oe3W1-FW3GmGjmd29xH3Rz_hq4UIW3CRbSu6BhHg6aC1y-nGBomoF_TKoMT-1VgAsCZPC2nQ5QDfELBZHvYsQ/s320/51056208f08c7cd595c97ecbf1fd83611472053034581.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clinton proved a weak Establishment answer to <br />
Donald Trump</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In Hillary Clinton, not only do you have someone mired in political and personal controversies, but you have arguably the most pro-Establishment candidate ever. Polished, extremely well prepared and scripted, Clinton may have been impressive in the elections of the 20th century, but for today's context, she is totally inappropriate. Fascinatingly, Clinton has been able to unify the left and the right in distrust and dislike of her- whether for her shady ties to Wall Street, hawkish foreign policy proposals or the email scandal. The latter has been shown to be a false accusation- but it doesn't matter so much when it comes to the vote, as the accusation itself immediately left an impression on a significant numbers of people.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, she lacks the 'X-factor' of Donald Trump. She's too scripted, too predictable, too typically 'politician'. As a result, the main appeal of Hillary for many many voters was not because of what she stood for, or what she was, rather what what she <i>wasn't-</i> Donald Trump. And this fact seemed to be one of the things she relied upon for much of her campaign. The whole potential for a first female President was something similar (demonstrated in her motto, "I'm with <i>her</i>"). There was really a lack of any meaningful other definition to her campaign.<br />
<br />
And this should have been picked up by the Democratic National Committee, the DNC, <i>8 years ago,</i> when their supporters declared their desire for someone fresh in Barack Obama. And when Bernie Sanders, a popular candidate who threatened to turn over the Democrat status quo, came around, they did their best to stop him winning, <a href="http://observer.com/2016/07/wikileaks-proves-primary-was-rigged-dnc-undermined-democracy/">as revealed by WikiLeaks.</a> Even if it meant breaking neutrality rules and pushing forward a candidate who had less chance of winning against Trump nationally, the DNC wanted to protect the status quo. At all costs- even the resignation of their chair.<br />
<br />
It is important to remember that it's the DNC who fended off perhaps the most qualified candidate to fight Trump. And this shameful behaviour means the DNC have a massive role to play in what has happened today.<br />
<br />
But Hillary Clinton was still was predicted to beat Trump after accepting the Democratic nomination. It should have on paper been an easy victory for someone who could take advantage of a competitor as unstable, politically inexperienced and controversial as Donald Trump. This is a man, remember, who has a public record of treating women as objects on multiple counts, someone who continuously commits the political faux pas of professing how wealthy he is (even more wealthy than he might actually be), and someone who has <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjBro2Fh5vQAhXMAcAKHcBuCpEQFggrMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fpolicy-and-politics%2F2016%2F10%2F24%2F13387170%2Ftrump-insults-twitter&usg=AFQjCNGiQag0lN6C7hHpHbkN7uhjsO756Q&sig2=DKH7GnSPHlSpHLONKLEmPQ">repeatedly offended individuals, communities, and entire nations throughout this campaign.</a> How can Hillary lose to this person? That's what we all thought.<br />
<br />
But it seems Clinton had underestimated Trump- perhaps even relying too much on his self-destruction to hand her the Presidency. Clinton failed to sweep up many of the voters who felt disenfranchised by the Democratic party's rejection of Sanders, as well as many anti-Establishment Republicans for whom Trump proved too extreme. She did nothing to quell trust issues held by so many with her. She picked one of the most uninspiring VPs in Tim Kaine. She failed to win over millennials. These moves reeked of overconfidence, and proved fatal on Clinton's part.<br />
<br />
At the end of the day, however, we had all underestimated Trump. And, perhaps, we overestimated the American voting population.<br />
<br />
On this sombre day, it's important to reflect and learn from how and why exactly Donald Trump fended off Hillary Clinton. Sure, it'll be 4 years until the decision can be changed- but the work starts now to minimise the damage Trump causes, and make sure he can't do it for long.<br />
<br />
Because there could be a silver lining to this cloud. This is a momentous moment that has shaken both major political parties to the core. The Establishment and the moneyed interests in American politics has been troubled by Trump's success. The next decade or so could prove to be decisive in changing the fundamentals of politics in America- perhaps, just <i>perhaps</i>, the real fight for progressivism has just begun.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Bath, UK51.375801 -2.35990390000006351.375801 -2.359903900000063 51.375801 -2.359903900000063tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-24447780050822742752016-10-31T06:00:00.000+00:002016-10-31T14:28:21.867+00:00The Economics of Obesity.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsrArTFGQR7TK_WD97WWF6lwPqd6kYgi1hLdtuAaEyRMO5IFbH9JMineJGI7NjX1NFBEnIFKcJq16TcydRM3W_vslX7Y05J2pW06_wen92d5LFpvJlfKQhpf_o8-TNey_EncEVz9dvBOc/s1600/obesity-evolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsrArTFGQR7TK_WD97WWF6lwPqd6kYgi1hLdtuAaEyRMO5IFbH9JMineJGI7NjX1NFBEnIFKcJq16TcydRM3W_vslX7Y05J2pW06_wen92d5LFpvJlfKQhpf_o8-TNey_EncEVz9dvBOc/s640/obesity-evolution.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Statistics from last year show that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25576400" target="_blank">the number of obese adults in the developing world has quadrupled since 1980 to a one billion</a>. <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fobesity%2Fdata%2Fadult.html&ei=74_tVJ2IBsOvaf6RguAK&usg=AFQjCNGshbq2njquTV2OpRG-f2OJ3R8K9w&sig2=A2lsUaxKaUItC6MmjJRi0A&bvm=bv.86956481,d.d2s" target="_blank">Over one third</a> of American adults are deemed obese, as are <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2920219/How-fat-country-nations-highest-obesity-rates-new-maps-surprise-you.html" target="_blank">more than a quarter of British adults</a>, resulting in Britain's NHS spending <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-obesity-and-improving-diet" target="_blank">over £5bn a year</a> on health problems associated with being overweight or obese.<br />
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Obesity is evidently a growing epidemic, but why? It is almost undoubtable that economic-related factors play a significant role in this.<br />
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One of the most notable shifts in the lifestyle of our society has been that the wealthy and the poor have almost switched positions with regards to levels of obesity. A study undertaken by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine compared the dietary and health lifestyles of poorer and wealthy individuals, and determined that those earning under $20k are 50% <i>less</i> likely to exercise sufficiently than those earning over $75k, and instead they are 50% <i>more</i> likely to purchase over the counter 'diet pills' which are pretty much quack medications.<br />
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It seems the major reason for this is the lack of time many poorer people are likely to have. With almost <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/05/jobs-numbers-quantity-quality" target="_blank">7 million Americans working multiple jobs</a>, and <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/41-million-american-workers-dont-get-enough-sleep-cdc-says/" target="_blank">41 million Americans receiving insufficient hours of sleep</a> according to the Centre for Disease Control, time is becoming a premium for many poorer Americans whose economic straits lead them to take up multiple jobs or jobs with hours that reduce their ability to lead a healthy lifestyle. These people are likely to have less time to go out and exercise (hence their purchasing of 'get slim quick' pills), are more likely to be drawn towards processed 'fast food' as opposed to home cooking and thus are more likely to live a lifestyle that will make them overweight. Wealthier middle and upper class people, on the whole, have access to more free time, which allows them to spend more time cooking their meals from scratch and going out to exercise. In the UK, this is reflected in how average household income of a gym member is <a href="http://www.marketresearchworld.net/content/view/164/" target="_blank">35% higher</a> than the national average.<br />
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But you could mention the 8.2% of people who are unemployed in the States, and other developed countries. They should have plenty of free time, no, to go out and run and cook meals? Well, most likely, yes. But this brings us to the other issue in this obesity crisis.<br />
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Food prices are becoming more diverse than ever. A study by Dr Pablo Monsivais of the University of Cambridge found that, in 2012, healthy foods were three times more expensive per calorie than less healthy foods. For a more specific example, take a frozen pizza, a typically 'unhealthy' food- in 2002 1000 calories worth of frozen pizza cost £2.10, falling to £1.58 10 years later. On the other hand, 1000 calories worth of tinned tomatoes more than doubled in the same time period. This is emphasised by the massive increase in reliance upon food banks, which are currently unable to provide for a sufficient number of people to change the status quo.<br />
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You can see it every day in the shops- look at how much more expensive the top brand meals, which are usually made with less additives and purer ingredients, are than their cheaper, diluted, lower quality alternatives. Look at the difference in price between organic and 'basic' stuff.<br />
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Not only are the poorer in society lacking time to create healthy, nutritious meals, but they evidently lack the finances. Ready meals, frozen foods, fast foods (a McDonald's burger for $1, really?) and so on having devastating impacts on the health of not just the poorer in society but its sheer popularity means it is affecting society as a whole.<br />
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So it is undoubtable that economic conditions play a significant role in one's health, particularly with regards to the issue of obesity.<br />
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Recent trends present a shift from past centuries. Throughout history, a large belly was seen to be a sign of wealth, and indeed it was- it meant you could not just fill your appetite but also afford to indulge in food. The poor in society barely got enough to survive, let alone become overweight. But as society has progressed and peoples' economic standards have risen, this has changed. Significantly more people (though poignantly still not all) in developed countries can afford to feed themselves, but there remains much to improve with regards to quality of life. We are able to feed most people in the developed world- perhaps a move we will soon have to look to is to ensure what people are eating is beneficial for them.<br />
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<i><u><b>RECOMMENDED READS</b></u></i><br />
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<i>Researchers Point to Economic Reasons for Obesity</i> <a href="http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/researchers-point-to-economic-reasons-for-obesity-020415.html">http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/researchers-point-to-economic-reasons-for-obesity-020415.html</a><br />
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<i>Impatience, Incentives and Obesity</i> <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecoj.12124/abstract">http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecoj.12124/abstract</a><br />
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<i>Rich People Exercise, Poor People Take Diet Pills</i> <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/rich-people-exercise-poor-people-take-diet-pills/378852/">http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/rich-people-exercise-poor-people-take-diet-pills/378852/</a></div>
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<i>Trying to Lose Weight: The Association of Income and Age to Weight-Loss Strategies in the USA</i> <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24842735">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24842735</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_216548642"><br /></a></div>
<i>Price Gap Between More and Less Healthy Food Grows </i><a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/price-gap-between-more-and-less-healthy-foods-grows">http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/price-gap-between-more-and-less-healthy-foods-grows</a><br />
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<i>Sources for evidence and data can be found within the hyperlinks in the text.</i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-6784947969904615052016-10-06T22:44:00.002+01:002016-10-06T22:46:48.917+01:00Hussain Manawer Interview | One Young World 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
At the recent <b>One Young World Summit</b> in Ottawa, Canada, I caught up with mental health advocate, poet and soon to be the first British Muslim in space, Hussain Manawer. Watch this insightful interview below, and make sure to check out his performance 'Mother Tongue' also!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1Ottawa, ON, Canada45.4215296 -75.69719309999999344.7060866 -76.988086599999988 46.1369726 -74.4062996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905655078735275561.post-24998736980494406442016-09-26T23:07:00.000+01:002016-10-03T04:13:12.839+01:00Celebrities Won't "Save The Day" <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h3>
Donald Trump is threatening in the polls and the liberal
elite has dangerously fumbled in their latest heavy-handed ploy to take him
on writes James Dancey.</h3>
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I was perusing through the YouTube trending bar a couple
days ago and I saw this ‘Save the Day’ video, a campaign by celebrities telling
you not just to vote, but to not vote for Trump. It was 3 minutes of sincere
personages looking you in the eye and appealing to your sense of moral
righteousness. Sounds perfectly fine right? Wrong. </div>
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You see Trump runs a narrative that we’ve seen before, that
it’s the big liberal elite and media moguls ganging up against him, and it’s
one that has been bought before. Trump himself is not far from the aristocracy,
although he won’t release his tax returns he likes to flaunt himself as a self-proclaimed
multimillionaire, his father was a property magnate and once upon a time he
received a small loan of a million dollars; hardly a working class hero. </div>
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Yet he has grappled the popularity of the people he has been
so distant from in the earlier years of his life, why? It’s a combination,
there’s the obvious brutally honest (and regularly offensive) demeanour he has
which attracts the masses who are fed up of being condescended by men and women
in suits and ties, however, he is regularly propelled by the media’s coverage (despite
nearly all being negative) helps feed his narrative that he is the underdog
(despite by no means being that). </div>
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So now we have celebrities, doing what celebrities do best, being
in front of the camera, and telling you not to vote for Trump, because he’s a
misogynist, a racist and an all round disgusting human being. That’s all
correct, and they’re all right, but it’s not going to stop people from voting
him. A slew of celebrity endorsements, from David Beckham to Steven Hawking
didn’t stop people voting leave in the EU referendum. Why?</div>
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Celebrities are becoming less idolised in modern society as more
and more people view them as glorified civilians, which in many ways is what they
are. An actor isn’t really qualified to give you political advice, although
most politicians aren’t qualified to give you political advice either, but
no-one listens to politicians, so what are the chances they’re going to listen
to celebrities? </div>
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Every time the media report on one of Donald Trump’s awful
slurs or supposed ‘mishaps’ (which are so common nowadays they can hardly be
considered that) they’re just giving him more airtime and attention. I
understand it’s hard to find good news about Hillary Clinton, who spends half
her time being comatose and the other half being jeered over her emails, but
finding ‘bad news’ about Donald Trump is just supporting his beliefs that the
media is after him, and despite all the reports being completely true, he is a
terrible human being, people have already made up their mind on him.</div>
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This new Save the Day campaign is not going to change anyone’s
mind about Donald Trump, it’s more likely to change people’s opinion on the
celebrities themselves, why? I don’t know, but Donald Trump’s supporters are
fiercely loyal to him and that’s not going to change anytime soon, if you
really want to sway the undecided voters you should give people reasons to vote
for Hillary, not to vote against Trump, because people aren’t going to buy
that.</div>
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The juvenile jest that Mark Ruffalo will do a nude scene at
the end of this film just nails how confused this political advertisement is. The
self-conscious near parody tone is meant to add a humorous edge to the video
but ends up outlining exactly what is wrong with these campaigns, the ‘We’re
famous so you should vote the way that I’m voting’ gimmick that people have
heard enough of, it has reached saturation point and there’s more chance that this
contrived, calculated political move will backfire rather than succeed. </div>
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Hillary’s downfall will be the fact that she does terribly
in the swing states; Sanders would’ve destroyed Trump with the impartial voter,
but now the Democrats have shot themselves in the feet; they are calling on a
liberal elite that the electorate is about to rebel against. People want to
hear about policies that are going to enhance their lives, not about why Donald
Trump is a bad person. Donald Trump has stolen so much of the media attention
and coverage that few have ever commanded that he may just win the Presidential
race; well it will be less his win, more the democrats’ loss. </div>
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Save the Day will fail, it may even have a negative impact,
you’re not going to convince anyone about Donald Trump, people have seen and
heard enough of him to have an opinion, favourable or unfavourable. You have to
convince people why Hillary is better, not why Donald is worse, it’s the exact
same technique tried by the remain campaign in the EU referendum (and failed),
same technique tried by Owen Smith against Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour
Leadership race (and failed), do the elite not know anything else other than
attack with no defence? Or are there actually no reasons to vote Hillary? Or as
she’s better known in the media: Not Trump. Both are reasonable theories. How I
yearn for Bernie Sanders.</div>
<h4>
Unless Hillary changes her campaign focus, she will fail,
and that has worrying implications for the whole of the progressive world. </h4>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12187772381917436644noreply@blogger.com0