Some good news: the Paris climate agreement is now official
November 4th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
As the “Guardian” newspaper puts it:
“The significance of the Paris agreement coming into force today is easy to miss: it may seem like an anti-climax, given the travails that led up to its signing last December.
But the moment is of huge importance. This is the first time that a legally-binding agreement, signed by all of the world’s functioning governments, has laid down a commitment to limit the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with the goal of preventing global warming exceeding 2C above pre-industrial levels.
This figure was not plucked out of the increasingly carbon-rich air. It is the limit of what scientists regard as safety, beyond which climate change will run out of control, unstoppable in its damaging effects.”
More information here.
Posted in Environment | Comments (1)
Where the heck is Matt Harding now?
November 4th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I love the videos created by American traveller Matt Harding.
This is his latest:
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
The top ten candidates for Collins word of the year
November 3rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The English language is very fluid and dynamic with new words coming along all the time, not all of which stay the course. Collins Dictionary has announced that Brexit is its word of the year – this year, use of the word has increased by 3,400% – but the other words on its list of finalists were:
- Hygge
- mic drop
- Trumpism
- throw shade
- sharenting
- snowflake generation
- dude food
- uberization
- JOMO
If you’re not sure what these terms mean, you’ll find more information here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the latest super-hero movie “Doctor Strange”
November 1st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
“Doctor Strange” is the fourteenth film to be released by Marvel Studios for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it’s another success for the company – sheer entertainment with some visual pyrotechnics. You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Whatever happened to Halloween?
October 31st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Last year, almost 60 children came to our door for Halloween. This year, it was less than 30. I blame Brexit. Now what am I supposed to do with all those chocolates?
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
What do we do if aliens make contact?
October 31st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
As this short article makes clear, Hollywood has all sorts of answers:
“There’s ‘Contact’ (we build a space ship), ‘District 9’ (coexist unhappily), ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ (friendly abductions) and ‘Independence Day’ (bang!). Next week, Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Arrival’ will give its answer.”
Of course, as the article makes clear, unless the laws of physics can be altered in some unimaginable way no aliens could ever make the journey to visit us and even a two-way exchange of messages would take hundreds of years. So that’s that one more thing you don’t have to worry about.
So back to worrying about Donald Trump. What do you mean, you think he might be an alien?!?
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
A review of the recent movie “The Intern”
October 30th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
There are not enough female writers and directors in film-making and not enough movies that are addressed to the issues of an older audience. “The Intern” is written and directed by a woman of a certain age and appeals to both a maturer audience (the intern is Robert de Niro) and a younger audience (his boss is Anne Hathaway). You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect?
October 29th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The Dunning-Kruger effect is defined as “a cognitive bias in which low-ability individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is”. The phenomenon was first observed in a series of experiments by David Dunning and Justin Kruger of the department of psychology at Cornell University in 1999.
Policial commentators and social scientists are excited because they believe that they have found the most dramatic case of the Dunning-Kruger effect in the history of modern times. It is called Donald J Trump.
Posted in American current affairs, Miscellaneous | Comments (2)
An excellent example of why a free society needs independent trade unions
October 28th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
GMB, the union for professional drivers, has won their case against Uber as the London Employment Tribunal has determined that Uber has acted unlawfully by not providing drivers with basic workers’ rights.
GMB brought two test cases to the Central London Employment Tribunal on 20 July 2016 and it has decided that Uber drivers are entitled to receive holiday pay, a guaranteed minimum wage and an entitlement to breaks. The Tribunal decision will have major implications for over 30,000 drivers in London and across England and Wales and for workers in other occupations.
GMB found last year that a member working exclusively for Uber received just £5.03 per hour in August after costs and fees were taken into account, significantly below the national minimum wage of £7.20. Lawyers for the drivers also argued that Uber acts unlawfully by frequently deducting sums from drivers’ pay, often without informing the drivers in advance, including when customers make complaints.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How can the consumer voice be better heard in the regulation of essential services?
October 27th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
In a week’s time, in my capacity as Chair of the Essential Services Access Network (ESAN), I will be chairing a major conference to be held at the BT Tower. The title of the event is “How can the consumer voice be better heard in the regulation of essential services?” and we will be looking mainly at the water, energy, communications, financial services, and transport sectors.
We have a really impressive line-up of 18 speakers and will be producing a report of the event. In the meanwhile, we have commissioned a background paper for the conference from independent consultant Zoe McLeod. I’m really pleased with this and you can access it here.
The paper reviews different models for consumer representation and different methodologies for engaging with consumers. The conclusion is as follows:
“In terms of the consumer voice models, at a high level, both the panel approach and the stand-‐alone consumer watchdog have their strengths and weaknesses, depending on the type of market, the sector, and the wider consumer landscape. In all cases, where potential limitations are identified, care must be taken to mitigate concerns. A consumer voice body within the regulated company can act as a good complement to existing approaches. It does not require legislation or public funding, highlighting a real opportunity for developments of this kind.
Given that each consumer representation model has its strengths and limitations, there may be a case for encouraging elements of all three approaches where resources permit. Arguably this situation has existed in the water sector with a version of the consumer voice within the regulator (Ofwat’s Expert Advisory Group), a stand-‐alone consumer voice outside the regulator (CCWater) and consumer voices within the regulated companies (Customer Challenge Groups). Where there are two or more models of representation, it is important for there to be a clear understanding of the different roles of the different bodies and collaborative working between them. These are issues for discussion at the event.
Similarly with the use of different research methodologies, there is ‘no one sized fits all’ approach. While behavioural insights and related randomised controlled trials are considered a ‘gold standard’ technique in terms of providing robust quantitative data that allows measurement of actual consumer behaviour and to evaluate the impact of interventions, their use is not always practical, ethical or appropriate. BIs are important, but only part of the picture, particularly for complex issues such as tackling climate change or resilience. Traditional system-‐wide approaches to policy solutions are still needed.
Decision makers are increasingly recognising the importance of capturing the diversity of consumer voices, including those who are in vulnerable circumstances. While the UKRN has identified four principles of effective engagement many regulators still have a way to go to consistently meet this good practice. All parties (regulators, governments, and industry among them) need to be more flexible in how they engage with consumer bodies, recognising their relatively limited resources, and at times limited sectoral knowledge. This involves taking steps to actively build capacity among the consumer sector, by using a wide range of techniques, including embracing digital opportunities, to support engagement and strengthen the consumer voice in decision-‐making.
The Essential Services Access Network (ESAN) is strongly in favour of wider knowledge sharing and experimental use of different consumer representation models and different consumer research methodologies. We are of the view that this would be good for consumers, regulators and companies. We hope that this background paper, the conference that it supports, and the final report from the conference will all assist in promoting such information exchange and experimentation. We stand ready to work with all relevant stakeholders to advance this progressive agenda.”
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (2)