CREDIBILITY

From the archive, during a lockdown clear-out
When I left PW, then one of the 'Big8'. I did another job before becoming self-employed..  It was fascinating but frustrating.

When I was at PW, I'd attend meetings with senior people at clients like Guinness.  My reports were taken as gospel, and people listened intensely to me as I ran through my findings and recommendations.  I was prepared to make changes when needed, but this was rare.

It was all the more a surprise on changing jobs that people regarded me and what I said with suspicion.  Extreme suspicion in some cases.  Even though it was similar topics.  I had to justify everything I said and build their trust.  Something that people did naturally when I was at PW, and I could take for granted.

The same now applies to this blog.  I need to build credibility and I hope my biography alongside the blog's objectives helps to do that.

I am an Oxbridge science graduate who became a finance professional.  Amongst other things I have  written nearly 100 blog-type articles for my professional institute on a wide range of technical subjects.  Writing about science is in many ways easier, as in most cases I am taking what the experts have provided and simply presenting it in a different way or from a different angle.  It's my profession to take such information, draw conclusions, and make recommendations.  That's what I do in this blog.

So I hope you enjoy this blog, in so far that something that's a matter of life and death can be enjoyed.  At the very least I hope you find the postings enlightening.

Onwards and upwards.  Keep safe!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

R, R, WHERE R'T THOU R? (Updated 29 May)

Image
R has gone AWOL.  The king of the COVID metrics is missing, presumed dead.  Yet so important.  That's what I wrote early on 28 May.  I then found something that made me fall off my chair.  I'm now returning to the topic late morning on 29 May: R is so important as an indicator of how well this coronavirus is being kept under control, and a key part of assessing whether lockdown restrictions can be eased or indeed need to be tightened .  But R is only useful if reflecting the transmission rate now.  The problem is that it isn't.  I am shocked! RECENT ANNOUNCEMENTS OF R On 15 May, Sir Patrick Vallance, joint chair of SAGE, tweeted this: We'll go to that web page in a moment.  But before that.... Sir Patrick has tweeted nothing about R since 15 May (as at 10 pm on 29 May).  Nor has Professor Chris Whitty , the other joint chair, presumably as his brief is medical matters.    . So I looked at all the slides...
Read more

SAVE THE SUMMER. SAVE THE ECONOMY. THE POLITICAL ISSUES

Image
The proposal for a second lockdown to save the summer and save the economy is subject to political will.  Several issues need to be overcome. This is a non-partisan post, being neither Leaver or Remainer as far as Brexit is concerned..  Nothing in this post takes away that the Conservative party won the 2019 General Election.  Brexit is done, with the EU already notified that the UK does not wish to extend the transition period beyond December 2020.  No, this is solely about overcoming COVID-19, for which the government needs to be trusted by the public.  This post is fundamentally about leadership. Firstly any government initiative would be undermined were Cummings to remain in post.  Cummings showed that rules don’t need to be followed.  The new lockdown rules would need to be followed for this proposal to work.  He can;t be part of the leadership.  He must go The government has repeatedly said that easings of lockdown restrictions...
Read more

THE MONDAY AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE

Image
On Sunday evening 10 May, PM Johnson broadcast a pre-recorded message that set out some sensible overall concepts. But his talk has been widely slated for a lack of clarity, and that consensus hadn't been developed with either the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, nor with Labour and other political parties. Frankly it looked like a Year 12 school project that had gone horribly wrong. Could it get any worse?  Hold my beer! Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, did a round of media interviews on Monday morning that confused people even more.  And resulted in some of the things he said having to be corrected. Later in the day, a round of briefing papers were released to Parliament, and PM Johnson appeared in the Commons to answer questions.  Again not good. This is Keir Starmer, Labour leader, trying to make sense of the documents in the Commons this afternoon The story so far is set out in this damning article "Motor misfires ...
Read more