More on Poverty

I had a very insightful comment from a 20 year old person called Amelia in New Zealand about one of my recent postings on world poverty and it got me thinking again about this issue. Thank you Amelia.

I just can’t get the enormity of this out of my head.

On our one planet 20,000 - that is TWENTY THOUSAND people die every day – mainly children – due simply to poverty.

At the same time I hear that the amount of money we spend in Europe on ice cream would be enough to provide an education for every child in the world.

We all have to look in the mirror and ask ourselves what we are doing practically to help. I may well write about this issue but I must do more. We all must do more.

Think for a moment about how in our enlightened society of 2007 we believe the slave trade was degrading, inhumane and scandalous until its abolition 200 years ago thanks to the efforts of people like William Wilberforce. I wonder if the children of my great grandchildren may look back on 2007 and say ...

‘In 2007 in such a supposedly advanced civilisation how could they possibly have not only allowed, but openly condoned such scandalous poverty on the same one planet that had such obscene wealth?’

Mahatma Ghandi when asked what he thought of democracy in the western world replied ‘I think it would be a very good idea’

I have great faith in young people who will I hope keep rattling the cage for justice.

Justice Not Charity

*We can all produce facts that can be taken out of context.

*Statistics can be twisted to suit an argument.
*Spin doctors can put a slant on things to create a story.

Having said all that, and allowing for inevitable cynicism about such things, I say it is simply not acceptable in 2007 to just accept the following statement;

‘The amount of money we spend on ice cream in Europe is enough to immunize every child in the world’

Source:
Worldwatch Institute
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1784

In a world where 20,000 people die every day – mainly children – due to poverty, I have to agree with Bono who says ‘This is not a charity issue – it is a justice issue.’

The joys (!!?) of learning about cash flow

One of the differences in working for myself and working in a large organisation is the issue of cash flow and payment of invoices.

When I worked as a manager in the NHS I was always very keen to get contractors paid for their services. I had a relationship with all such people who did work for me. Invariably they were small companies – often one person working for themselves.

I realised they could not afford to wait for money.

What I would often do is to personally ring the finance section to arrange early payment of invoices WHICH WAS ALWAYS POSSIBLE DESPITE WHATEVER THE 'PROCEDURE AND SYSTEM' MIGHT HAVE TOLD ME.

Nowadays I am on the ‘other side of the fence’ as a contractor and I submit my invoice once I have completed work.

So far the longest I have had to wait for payment of an invoice is 7 weeks and large organisations always seem to have a minimum of one month before they part with their money.

Interestingly enough small organisations always pay me within three days.

I understand why big organisations have institutional systems that have no sensitivity to the small contractor BUT WHAT DOES INTRIGUE ME IS WHY MANGERS DO NOT RECOGNISE THE CASH FLOW ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH SMALL COMPANIES AND TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO ‘HURRY ALONG’ THE PAYMENT.

Such is life and another example why in my opinion small is beautiful

The bigger the organisation the less in touch with customers or vendors has always been my view and this is brought home much more powerfully in this latest period of my professional life.

Are we failing our children in the UK?

The UK has been accused of failing its children, as it comes bottom of a league table for child well-being across 21 industrialised countries. The BBC report of this research can be seen by clicking here

Unicef looked at 40 indicators from the years 2000-2003 including poverty, family relationships, and health. America and Britain finished 20th and 21st respectively in this league table which is surely telling us something very significant about our young people. I think it is telling us something more important about parenting and the education system in the UK.

What do you think?

This is the full league table.

1. Netherlands
2. Sweden
3. Denmark
4. Finland
5. Spain
6. Switzerland
7. Norway
8. Italy
9. Republic of Ireland
10. Belgium
11. Germany
12. Canada
13. Greece
14. Poland
15. Czech Republic
16. France
17. Portugal
18. Austria
19. Hungary
20. United States
21. United Kingdom
Source: Unicef

Gordon Brown and humour

Yesterday I was doing some work in London as one of 35 facilitators running a major conference called. ‘The Skills Challenge: A Public Debate.’

Each of the facilitators had 10 people around a table and we spent the day running a public debate about the challenges faced by the UK economy following the publication in December of the ‘The Leitch Review of Skills’

In 2004 the Chancellor Gordon Brown (pictured) and Secretary of State for Education and Skills Alan Johnson commissioned Lord Sandy Leitch (Chairman of the National Employment Panel and formerly Chief Executive of Zurich Financial Services) to lead an independent review tasked with considering:

“the skills base that the UK should aim to achieve in 2020 to maximise growth, social justice and productivity.”

The review was published in December 2006, and is a comprehensive review of the UK’s long term (adult) skills needs. One of Leitch’s key recommendations is that the UK should

“…commit to becoming a world leader in skills by 2020, benchmarked against the upper quartile of the OECD.”

It was a fascinating day and I learned just how far behind the UK is in the world league table of countries for productivity per employee and skills per employee when compared with the likes of China, India, Japan, America and the Czech Republic.

There must be a major wake up call about improved skills training in the UK otherwise by the year 2020 we will have fallen so far behind that the UK will be an ‘also ran’ in global economies.

I had the pleasure of meeting Gordon Brown the Chancellor of the Exchequer and likely to be our next Prime Minister once Tony Blair steps down later this year.

Mr Brown gave an interesting speech and then sat around various table to talk to members of the public and business representatives.

I had never thought of him as a particularly charismatic man although I have always thought he is an extremely competent politician and has without a doubt been one of the best ever Chancellors.

He did make one interesting comment that produced a few smiles. He explained that on a recent trip to Washington, USA he saw a demonstration of angry banner waving protestors who were opposed to the concept of globalisation.

One of the banners apparently read as follows:

‘Join our world wide campaign against globalisation’

Well I thought it was funny anyway ….

Where does FAIRNESS end and JUSTICE begin?

Recently I’ve got myself involved in lively discussions about enormous pay-offs for Chief Executives and massive earnings for celebrities in sport and entertainment. I have called for more ‘radical giving’ as described by Nicky Gumbel.

Today at Church as we marked World Leprosy Day we heard that £350 is enough to buy building materials in Africa to build one brick house. Yes £350.

Consider this against the pay-off to a Chief Executive last week of £63 million.

I repeat I am not against people getting what they deserve but come on, no one individual NEEDS a lump sum of £63 million.

Some outstanding words during today’s service that I ask you to read and consider.


Firstly ……A verse from a Hymn by F Pratt Green

‘He reminds us every sunrise that the world is ours on lease,
For the sake of life tomorrow may our love for it increase,
May all races live together, share its riches, be at peace,
May the living God be praised!’


Secondly …….A prayer for World Leprosy Day

We pray for leprosy patients around the world. Please reach out your hand to heal them. Help people with leprosy to receive treatment early so that they don’t develop injuries and disabilities. Surround those who have been rejected by their families and communities with your Love. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

We pray for The Leprosy Mission. Help them find effective solutions to the poverty and stigma associated with leprosy. Let their voices be heard as they call for change and speak out against the injustices which keep people poor. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

We pray for ourselves. Help us to look at our own lifestyles, and to make the world a better place by learning to share what we have. Help us to worship you in the way you have chosen, by setting the oppressed free. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

We pray for world leaders and for those in positions of responsibility and authority. Help them recognise and actively seek opportunities to tackle poverty and bring about justice, so that all may live life to the full. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Fair or Unfair? - That is the question

Lord Brown - £63 million quid richer.

There have been a number of interesting discussions on Tom Peters Blog about many massive pay offs there have been recently in the business word for Chief Executives of failing or failed companies. Many pay offs come after disastrous company performance and this causes mixed feelings from observers about the merits of paying someone for … lets face it ‘screwing up.’

I was therefore interest to read this Daily Mail story last week (click here) about Lord Brown, Chief Executive of BP who was paid off last week with the paltry amount of £63million. I guess that will just about enable Lord Brown not to worry too much about where his next meal is to come form. I understand Lord Brown has spent his whole career at BP and I am pretty sure from what I have read that he did a great job earlier in his career. The fact remains that under his leadership the ‘wheels have come off’ and BP share price and profits have tumbled.

Two questions to Simplicity readers:

1 Is it fair CEO's get pay-offs when company results are poor?

2 Do you think this amount (£63 million) is reasonable or not?

Good Luck 'Becks'

It seems David Beckham has signed a 5 year deal from August 2007 to play football for LA Galaxy in America after a glittering career in England and Spain as well as being captain of England’s national team.

He is reportedly being paid 1 million dollars per week for five years.

Click here for details

I say good luck to David. I am not sure anyone is worth that sort of money but David Beckham is more than a footballer – he is a Brand. He has become a smart business man with good advisers.

As I have said many times on my Blog I am a Manchester United fanatic and 'Becks' was one of the ‘boys’ to come through Manchester United’s youth policy under Sir Alex Ferguson in the early 1990’s along with the likes of Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and many others.

David Beckham has always been a dedicated professional in his chosen profession and stories of his intensive football practice are legendary. He has worked hard to achieve what he has done in football.

The only thing that bugs me slightly is that while David is taking a wage of over 50 million dollars per year people are dying at the rate of 20,000 per day – mainly children – due to poverty.

Sometime I wonder about things but David Beckham does a lot of good work for charities and is at least putting back some of his personal wealth to help those less fortunate than him.

As always I will be fascinated to see comments.

Happy Christmas to the workers!

At this time of goodwill to all, I was interested to see today’s report from the TUC that top executive salaries at FTSE 100 firms have risen seventeen times faster than their workers' pay.

More details can be seen by clicking here

The staff whose salaries have risen 17 times slower than their bosses will once again read the Annual Report of their company as it says each year; ‘We owe everything to our staff’

Mmmmmm … Bah Humbug!!