From Bath to Cork with Baby Grace

What a dreadful situation for business!

No loans.  No credit to oil the flow of goods and services…

Why?  Banks say they are open for business.  But business says there’s no money flowing.

Could it be that bankers think they’ll get no bonus this year?  They won’t lend money unless they stand to gain a bonus?

No bonus, no credit.

Is that what’s going on?

If you’ve worked for years in a system and culture driven by the incentive of bonuses, you have the habit of thinking bonus.  You’ve forgotten what it was like to work according to a job description: lend money to customers you consider to be a fair risk.  All you think about is ‘how much bonus could I earn from this loan?’ 

If you’ve been led by directors who earned fabulous bonus, you’ve got used to following the leader.

Maybe you need a period of time to adjust your thinking and behaviour? 

A year or so sowing seed potatoes and harvesting wheat might be in order before you are cleansed enough to play a role in the bank of the future.

Personal Highlights:

(1) Lack of resources and support were the main reasons why an enquiry into abuse of children with intellectual disabilities took over eight years to complete

- I don’t believe it.

(2) It was unsafe to provide acute surgery, intensive care, round-the-clock emergency care, paediatric and maternity care at 88-bed Ennis hospital

- Why did it take an external investigating body to reveal such weaknesses?  Can we rely on doctors?

(3) Local medical consultants in Sligo protest against transfer of cancer services to Galway

- Must be hurting the income of consultants.

(4) Murder investigation in Limerick

- Why don’t the police arrest all the gang members and interview them all, and keep on doing this?

(5) Government closes down National Forum on Europe and makes Oireachtas sub-committee do its job

- Reveals that Fine Gael can’t agree their line: Billy Timmins pro, Lucinda Creighton anti the Forum

(6) Mary Harney, minister for health, says cystic fibrosis unit was always going to be built

- she’s a trickster.  It  depends on the builder being willing to wait until it’s built before being paid

(7) Minister Dr Martin Mansergh criticises benchmarking and the culture of bonuses

- and thereby criticises his own party’s old policies

(8) Deputy ‘prime minister’, Tainiste Mary Coughlan, says all toxic legislation can be in place by summer

- I don’t believe that.  Typical over-optimism.

(9) Parents face big increase in ‘voluntary’ contributions for post-primary education

- Why isn’t education paid for from general taxation?  Stupid short-sightedness.

(10) An Phobloacht has no Easter statement from IRA

- I don’t think there’ll be a united Ireland in my lifetime

(11) Bob Quick resigned so quickly after screw-up on security

- Who’s the last Irish public servant to resign,  rather than being pushed?

(12) John Waters says "a society that talks without hope cannot long endure…"

- I hope I agree with him on this occasion.

How can a community, facing a future of disappearing ‘low skilled’ jobs, reduce its investment in primary school education?

Reduce the number of teachers?

Reduce the number of teaching support staff?

Is it mad or something?

Or is it planning to swell its criminal class?

PS: If it does this, perhaps it’s proof that the previous investment in education was wasted?

If, like me, you’re wondering how blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn can help you achieve your goals, you might find this link very useful and challenging…

It comes from Niall Devitt, one of my latest contacts.  He’s set up a group dedicated to improving selling skills in Ireland.

One of the recent ‘gang’ murderers was 17.  I think at least one of the latest suspects is about 18.

I wonder if the gangs are using murder as a rite of passage?