Political systems of different nations

December 23rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington

Some of the most visited pages on my web site are my various short guides to political systems of different countries. I started with Britain and the USA and gradually expanded the scope.

I’ve had no meetings this week as we run up to Christmas, so I’ve had time to add two more such essays, covering Australia and Canada.

The full list of 10 essays is now as follows:

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

The 10 most important emerging technologies

December 22nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington

Each year, “Technology Review” published by MIT selects what it believes are the 10 most important emerging technologies. The winners are chosen based on the editors’ coverage of key fields. They state:

“The question that we ask is simple: is the technology likely to change the world? Some of these changes are on the largest scale possible: better biofuels, more efficient solar cells, and green concrete all aim at tackling global warming in the years ahead. Other changes will be more local and involve how we use technology: for example, 3-D screens on mobile devices, new applications for cloud computing, and social television. And new ways to implant medical electronics and develop drugs for diseases will affect us on the most intimate level of all, with the promise of making our lives healthier.”

You can check out the 10 technologies here.

Posted in Science & technology | Comments (1)

What a difference an hour makes …

December 21st, 2010 by Roger Darlington

Today is the shortest day of the year and officially the start of winter (that’s a laugh this year for those of us who live in Britain). Once again, one has to think why we actually use the time system that we do in the UK and whether it would not be much more sensible to move to double summertime.

In an article in today’s “Guardian”, it states:

“The evidence in favour of a shift in time appears compelling: reformers say we would be a happier, healthier, more active, more prosperous, less accident-prone and less polluting nation with this simple measure, which would cost nothing to introduce.”

There is a Private Members’ Bill which seeks to implement such change and it has won a Second Reading in the House of Commons. This is perhaps the most visible part of a campaign which I hope very much will succeed.

Posted in British current affairs, Environment | Comments (2)

The race between India and China

December 20th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

As I do each December, I am enjoying reading the review of the coming year produced by the “Economist”.  In “The World In 2011”, it points out that, in the coming year, India might manage to grow its economy at the same rate – around 8.5% – as China for the first time since 1990.

However, India remains much poorer than China. The “Economist” states that India’s income per head would have to grow at 8% a year for 17 years to match the level that China enjoys today.

Meanwhile, as a result of the impact of China’s one-child policy, the difference between the population of the two countries – the only ones on Earth with more than a billion each – will narrow and India’s population could match that of China around 2025.

I am reminded of a conversation I had during my trip to China earlier this year.

The Shanghai Airlines flight from Dalian to Shanghai – a distance of 545 miles (875 km) – took just under one and a half hours and I spent the whole flight talking to a 29 year old Indian guy called Ashish, currently living in London and working as an engineer with the Ford Motor Company.

He does business in India and China and commented on how Indians think that they are an emergent superpower on a par with China whereas he believes that India simply does not have the infrastructure of China or the enterprise of the Chinese.

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

Facing up to the energy trilemma

December 19th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

Earlier this week, I attended a Consumer Focus Board discussion on energy policy when reference was made to the energy trilemma. If this is a phrase that you’ve not come across before, it is explained in this very short video:

The notion of an energy trilemma occurred in my short story “Coming In To Land”.

Posted in Environment | Comments (0)

Snow, snow, quick, quick, snow

December 18th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

After a period of thaw, most of Britain has today been covered again by a blanket of snow. Even London where we live has seen snow falling all morning which has cancelled our social programme for the weekend.


We won’t be having lunch on the terrace today


A picturesque scene at the back of our house


The view this morning in our back garden

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)

That was the week that was

December 17th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

As a semi-retired portfolio worker, my workload fluctuates considerably, but this week was probably the busiest of the year.

On Monday, I attended a consultation with consumers to debate the future of banking. This was organised by Consumer Focus – on whose Board I sit – at the request of the Independent Banking Commission. I was asked to produce a short account of this event for Consumer Focus colleagues and you can read this here.

On Tuesday, I chaired the quarterly meeting of the Consumer Focus Post Offices Advisory Group which brings together a range of stakeholders with an interest in the future of the Post Office network. The meeting was addressed by the Minister for Postal Services Edward Davey.  When I commented on his evident commitment to maintaining a strong network, he quipped: “Philately will get you anywhere”.

On Wednesday, I attended the monthly meeting of the Communications Consumer Panel on which I am the Member for England. We discussed our future in the light of the Government’s intention to abolish us and transfer our functions to Citizens Advice. But we may be around for another year. In the evening, I attended the 12th and last of the classes on my International Relations course at the City Literary Institute. I’ve registered for Part 2 of the course which runs from January-April 2011.

On Thursday, I attended the bimonthly meeting of the Board of Consumer Focus. We discussed our future in the light of the Government’s intention to abolish us and transfer our functions to Citizens Advice (sound familiar?). But we may be around until April 2013. We had a special session on energy policy looking at what has been called the energy trilemma:  securing energy supplies, reducing the carbon footprint, and keeping prices to consumers at an affordable level.

On Friday, I attended the quarterly meeting of the Policy Stakeholder Committee of Nominet which is responsible for .uk domain names. We are planning a major conference on trust and the Internet to be held in May 2011.

The next few weeks are totally clear of meetings, so lots of turkey and mince pies – and no doubt some blogging.

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

Facebook and HMU

December 17th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

Apparently 80,00 times a day Facebook carries the message HMU.

What does it mean? Answer here.

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A fair account? Don’t bank on it

December 15th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

As a member of the Board of Consumer Focus, earlier this week I was invited to attend an event sponsored by the organisation and blog about it. Here is what  I wrote:

Who would have thought that one could persuade some 100 people to gather on a cold December evening to discuss the future of banking with no more incentive that a mini mince pie – but that is exactly what Sarah Brooks and colleagues at Consumer Focus managed to do at the request of the Government-appointed Independent Commission on Banking. It was the fifth and last of a series of IBC meetings with the public and, by the time it was over, it was declared the best by an intrepid individual who had managed to smuggle himself into most of them, with the IBC Secretariat declaring in a follow-up communication: “We thought that the debate went incredibly well and that the format worked better than those we’d tried elsewhere”.

So what were the ingredients for such a success? The chair was Paul Lewis, the presenter of “Money Box” on Radio 4, and he combined immense knowledge of the subject with a lively and interactive, but commanding, style. He was ably supported by an expert panel of five: Martin Taylor, a member of the Commission; Martin Lewis, creator of the website Money Saving Expert; Danielle Walker-Palmour, a director of the Friends Provident Foundation; Mark Lyonette, Chief Executive of the Association of British Credit Unions; and Mike O’Connor, Chief Executive of Consumer Focus.

The format of the event kept things moving and varied. There were three main questions for debate, but also short video clips, voting by handset, and the opportunity to complete a suggestion form. Above all, there was an engaged audience which was not backwards in coming forwards: a range of professionals from the financial services industry including some actual bankers, listeners of the “Money Box” programme, users of the Money Saving Expert web site, and participants in deliberative research commissioned by Consumer Focus – plus a few journalists.

So what were those questions.

  • Why don’t consumers vote with their feet when they’re unhappy?

Consumer Focus research showed that, in the last two years, only 7% of current account users had switched and only 17% had considered doing so. Reasons offered for non-switching included apathy, ignorance, inertia, hassle, lack of transparency over charges and rates, lack of competition between institutions, and (for some) poor credit rating. It was pointed out again and again that so-called ‘free’ banking is actually paid for by hidden charges such as the cost of overdrafts and by cross subsidisation by other products and that one simply cannot have price competition between ‘free’ accounts. One speaker asserted: “There are not good and bad banks but good or bad products”. Finally we were reminded that 1.5 million citizens cannot switch accounts because they do not have one in the first place.

  • How can we ensure that banks provide ‘public goods’ such as essential banking services?

Mike O’Connor explained that the volume of payday loans has gone up four times in recent years and called for weekly as well as monthly standing orders and made a plea for more banking services at post offices. Danielle Walker-Palmour emphasised that what those on low incomes wanted above all was control of their finances with accounts that provide control over outgoings, better advice on balances, and provision of ‘buffer zones’ . One member of the public, who had professional knowledge of the universal service requirement on the telecoms incumbent BT, made the intriguing suggestion that, if a bank exceeded a certain share of the market, then it should be obliged to accept some social obligations.

  • What is the role of smaller financial service providers?

We were advised that, as well as the five big banks and the four big building societies, there are some 30 credit unions providing financial services in the UK and credit unions are particularly strong in parts of the country like Northern Ireland and Glasgow. In many other countries, they have a much bigger share of the market than is the case in Britain. Metrobank – the first new bank in this country for some 150 years – was represented and he explained that to get off the ground involved overcoming regulatory hurdles, accessing sufficient capital, and building a strong IT platform. One member of the public opined that “Small is good” and mentioned efforts by her local council in Essex to provide banking services.

If there was one voice at the event that was loudest (both literally and metaphorically) it was that of Martin Lewis who declared counter-intuitively that “Banking is not a financial issue” by which he meant that it affects every element of our lives. He insisted: “Finance is boring – saving money isn’t boring”. He pleaded for financial education in schools to be compulsory and was supported by a teacher of maths who declared “We need consumers who can make rational decisions”.

So where does the Banking Commission go from here? It was established in June 2010 and put out an issues paper and call for evidence in September 2010 and it plans to issue an options paper in Spring 2011 and a final report in September 2011. Then it’s over to the Government.

Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (2)

The Government’s Plan B

December 14th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

It is reported today that the Coalition Government has prepared an alternative economic strategy to be activated if the economy does not recover fast enough. Elements of the Plan B are further quantitative easing, purchase of commercial bonds, infrastructure investment and tax cuts.

It would not surprise me if a Plan B proves necessary, but a reduction in the scale and speed of public expenditure cuts should be part of any alternative strategy about which I speculated in a posting two months ago.

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)

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