Archive for the ‘Consumer matters’ Category
It’s World Consumer Rights Day
March 15th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
For the last 16 years, I’ve worked part-time with an portfolio of appointments to various consumer bodies operating in regulated sectors like communications, water, energy and financial services. So I’d like to highlight that today is World Consumer Rights Day, an event promoted by Consumers International. Each year has a theme and this year it […]
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What would really help consumers of essential services?
March 13th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This week, I chaired a day-long conference at the iconic BT Tower in central London on behalf of the Essential Services Access Network (ESAN). The theme of the event was “What would really help consumer of essential services?” and we focused particularly on the water, energy, communications and financial services sectors. We had 10 excellent speakers […]
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What would really help consumers of essential services?
January 11th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This is the title of a conference which I am putting together and which I will chair in my capacity as Chair of the Essential Services Access Network (ESAN). At its heart and as its name implies, ESAN is a unique network bringing together regulators and ombudsmen on the one hand and consumer and voluntary […]
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How can newspapers survive when advertising revenue is pouring online?
October 26th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I am a paid subscriber to the “Guardian” newspaper which has just issued this encouraging statement: “The Guardian is now funded by more than 800,000 supporters from more than 140 countries. Half a million readers are subscribers or members, or give to us on a monthly basis, while over the past 12 months we’ve received […]
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My congratulations to Nobel prize winner Richard Thaler
October 10th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
US economist Richard Thaler, one of the founding fathers of behavioural economics, has won this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics. Professor Thaler, of Chicago Booth business school, co-wrote the global best seller “Nudge”, which looked at how people make choices. To mark the award, I reproduce below my review of his seminal book. ************************************************************** “Nudge” […]
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Young people communicating less by post
October 9th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
A poll of 2,000 people finds 43% of millennials (those born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s) have never sent a handwritten letter, thank you card or parcel to someone they know. However, 80% are sad that these are not sent as much anymore, according to the research which was carried out for ipostparcels […]
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“Brexit: Implications for Digital Citizens and Consumers”
September 20th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
This paper, published today and written for the Carnegie Trust by William Perrin, a fellow Board member of the Good Things Foundation, considers both the potential risks and opportunities Brexit brings digital citizens and consumers in the UK. Specifically, it explores: the regulation of the digital sector and telecommunications market; mobile roaming; data privacy and […]
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What’s happening to our post office network?
February 21st, 2017 by Roger Darlington
You may have noticed changes in the look or operation or even location of your local post office. Why is this happening? It’s because fewer people are using post offices than in the past and many of the transactions conducted generate low income for Post Office Limited, but customers value having a local post office […]
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How can the consumer voice be better heard in the regulation of essential services? – 15 videos with some answers
December 22nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I have previously blogged about a major conference at the BT Tower which I chaired on 2 November 2016. The event was organised by the Essential Services Access Network (ESAN), which I chair, and the theme was “How can the consumer voice be better heard in the regulation of essential services?” The various speakers discussed […]
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How should the consumer voice be heard in company policymaking?
December 7th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
In her campaign to become leader of the Conservative Party and in her time as Prime Minister, Theresa May has talked of consumers and workers being on company boards and there is currently a Government consultation on corporate governance that looks tentatively at this subject. The consumer organisation Citizens Advice invited me to do a […]
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