X : Brexit?
Me : Eh?
X : The deal?
Me : Oh, you mean the theatre is over? The "on the edge of a cliff, roll up, roll up, Boris to the rescue with a 1,200+ page document" ... the theatre did seem rather pointless but it kept the Daily Fail readers occupied with lots of frothing.
X : So, what do you think of it?
Me : I haven't read it yet. Still, the first few months were always going to be "interesting".
X : How so?
Me : We get to find out which companies don't give a whoot about customers and will use this to make a quick profit ...
.... my money, if I was going to bet, would have to be on ... hmmm, tough, so many choices ... well, it's got to be telcos. I'd reckon they will reintroduce roaming charges and SMS fees (despite there being no good reason) in order to profit at customers expense ...
... plus telcos tend to have a past history of rent extraction and fleecing customers in order to pad executive bonuses. Yep, telco's it'll be in my book ... they'll do anything for a quick profit before legislation comes in and forces them to behave.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
This is not a question of whether we should leave or not but one of focus. On this matter @NicolaSturgeon is spot on. It is in the interest of all (including the EU) if UK focuses on a policy of eradication ->
X : New strain is no more deadly.
Me : Not the point. The new strain spreads more quickly. The existing strain was deadly enough with UK having 2M cases and close to 70K deaths without overloading our healthcare system. The extra pressure this new strain will cause is not good.
Hence it is so important to follow Government advice, to socially distance, to wear masks, to keep calm, to support others and to act as one nation.
Really disappointed to hear about people flocking to train stations to escape tier 4 areas.
Prompted to read into the SolarWinds supply chain attack ... ok, a malware product that people installed on machine or in virtualised servers ... good to see some of the responses - geekwire.com/2020/microsoft… ...
... however, the Amazon keynotes on simplify and observability couldn't have come at a better time - siliconangle.com/2020/12/15/go-…
On that theme of operating - AWS fault injector system - chaos monkeys / the master of disaster for the masses - excellent move aws.amazon.com/fis/
I had a fascinating conversation today examining poverty, collective behaviour and teenage pregnancy through the lens of maps. There is some wonderful work happening in Columbia. Awe inspiring.
But something I've noticed of late is a real change in intent with a new crop of companies ... a real focus on ethics, principles and doing collective good rather than just simply accruing wealth.
There is also a sense of an awakening, maybe people are finally realising that the idea that we can't afford basic services like a decent healthcare, decent education, decent social services doesn't really past muster when there are such symbols of profligate wealth.
"£9B went to companies run by friends or associates of the Conservative party" ... in other words, the basic principles of challenge and spend control were thrown out of the window. This needs a full public inquiry ->
As one of the co-authors of the "better for less" paper, as an advocate for the introduction of spend control in 2010, having seen the hard work that went into savings billions ... I am truly disappointed.
In a crisis, it is important to challenge and not to panic. This is why you need systems like spend control, and G-Cloud rather than "special" processes especially not "VIP processes" - thetimes.co.uk/article/german… - it looks like we've opened the door to corruption and exploitation.
I do believe that new Aus MPs should have the words "I dedicate my life to serving the public especially those with the greatest needs" tattooed permanently across their chests in inch high letters ... actually, all MPs, everywhere. Just to remind them when they look in a mirror.
Contextual blindness - the tendency for members of the privileged to think that something other than luck was responsible for their position and privilege ->
X : Why random?
Me : Take 66M people. Give them each £1. Each year they toss a coin. Heads your wealth increases 40%. Tails your wealth reduces 30%. Overall, wealth grows ... but ... after 26 years, by pure random luck, 4% of the people will own almost 50% of the wealth ...
... the top 0.1% will own more wealth than the bottom 50% ... it's just pure random luck, tossing coins. You'd have mass inequality. The wealthiest will have 7,000x the wealth of the average. No talent involved.