Jersey Is Not Bust, @OliverBullough

Reading today’s Guardian article, The Fall of Jersey leaves one hoping for better-quality journalism… or certainly some balanced reporting. Oliver Bullough argues that Jersey is heading towards an abyss financially, as its government deficit is forecast to expand to £125mn by 2019. Let’s put the numbers in perspective to start with. Checking the States of Jersey’s… Continue reading Jersey Is Not Bust, @OliverBullough

Mobile Data Roaming: How To Get Your Money Back

I first wrote this piece back in November 2014. I’ve edited it now to reflect the final resolution of the dispute with my mobile telephone provider, more than a year after I first questioned my Data Roaming bills from them. After much argument, they agreed to refund all my charges for a roughly seventeen month… Continue reading Mobile Data Roaming: How To Get Your Money Back

Inter-company Credit & Inventories

I attended an excellent dinner a few weeks ago, hosted by UBS Jersey. The speaker was their Global Economist, Paul Donovan, author of The Truth About Inflation. During his interesting & thought-provoking talk he spent some time discussing small businesses. In the UK, according to a Parliamentary Briefing, Small & Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) represent 60% of… Continue reading Inter-company Credit & Inventories

TalkTalk: Not Walking the Walk

A week ago, TalkTalk was hacked. The company claims that hackers don’t have enough information from the hack alone to steal money from their customers. It’s unable to confirm how many of the 4 million customers were affected. Having failed as a business to protect their customers’ confidential information (one for the Data Commissioner, surely)… Continue reading TalkTalk: Not Walking the Walk

Grammar Schools

There was significant controversy recently over the UK government’s decision to allow the Weald of Kent Grammar School in Tonbridge to open an ‘annexe’ in Sevenoaks, 7 miles away. Opponents argue that this is a new school, even though the 8 minute journey time (by train) is far less than some pupils currently spend getting… Continue reading Grammar Schools

In Richard’s Footsteps

As a young teen I read Philip Jose Farmer’s SciFi novel, “To Your Scattered Bodies Go”. Without going into too much detail, it’s about a world where all of Humankind is resurrected — amongst them, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton. The portrayal of Burton captivated me and ever since I have been fascinated by this… Continue reading In Richard’s Footsteps

China Slowdown: Are There Lessons From Japan?

I have been wondering for some time whether there might be clues in the future trajectory of the Chinese economy & stock-markets in the behaviour of other large economies that have emerged since World War II. As neighbours, Japan seemed like the obvious starting point. I started off by looking at both countries’ GDP Deflators… Continue reading China Slowdown: Are There Lessons From Japan?

Is It Always Good to Share?

The Sharing Economy has attracted tremendous interest over the past few years: firms like Uber, AirBnB, TaskRabbit and Zilok offer people the ability to monetize assets that they’re not using all the time, or to find customers more easily than was the case pre-internet. As a homeowner, I’ve become an enthusiastic user of AirBnB: the… Continue reading Is It Always Good to Share?

Does London Need Another Runway?

As the debate continues to rage, with Heathrow & Gatwick both claiming to be the best option for an additional runway, I thought it might be interesting to review the current situation and ask whether an extra runway is needed at all. London has six international airports within an hour’s drive or train-ride of the centre:… Continue reading Does London Need Another Runway?

Data Security

This week I had emails from two services I use notifying me that they each had suffered some sort of security intrusion, and suggesting I change my password etc etc. One was Slack — for a technology company currently raising assets at a reported $2.8bn valuation, discovering that hackers have been poking around in the… Continue reading Data Security