Public Sector Performance: Catch 22 type Dilemmas – Best Blogs Series

Upside/Downside Leverage

Upside/Downside Leverage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Protestors in Brighton on June 30 ove...

English: Protestors in Brighton on June 30 over pension changes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Protestors gather in Sheffield to dem...

English: Protestors gather in Sheffield to demonstrate against government plans to change public sector pensions. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Teachers at New College Nottingham pr...

English: Teachers at New College Nottingham protesting against government pension plans. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: NUT ATL UCU PCS strike rally outside ...

English: NUT ATL UCU PCS strike rally outside the Forum in Norwich against draconian government cuts in their pension conditions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is one of my all time best blogs. Although first published in 2011, austerity has failed and radical reform in the public sector will again need addressing. My colleague & fellow blogger, John Gelmini and I were right in 2011 and we’re still right. Since 2011 there’s more downside risk; (1) austerity has failed; (2) there’s a risk of a neo-Marxist government in the UK; (3) Brexit costs will be high to enormous; (4) Conservative government is ‘weak and wobbly’; (5) in North America, the Chair of the Federal Reserve is warning that labor productivity is increasingly being impacted by the epidemic of drug abuse, especially opioids, now the biggest cause of death for the under fifties.

The original article was based on the UK’s unreformed public sector but in Trump’s America, there’s an enormous ‘Catch 22 challenge’ too, as Macron’s France.

Whilst the ‘Catch 22 Challenge’ was originally pitched at the public sector, it also applies to the private sector where productivity is declining apart from the impact of new technology.

So how should the UK and other advanced countries, like France, the US, Canada & Australia face the latest ‘Catch 22 challenge’ in light of new downside risks?

 

Open this link for original 2011 blog

 

Dr Alf's Blog

English: Example of a balanced scorecard strat... English: Example of a balanced scorecard strategy map for a public-sector organization (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This article was first published on this blog March 11, 2011.

It’s interesting to see what’s changed in nearly five years – not too much I fear.

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Last week’s blog entitled “Local Authorities & Shared Services: Cost-Cutting, Myth or Reality?” generated some lively debate. Reflecting on recent political and media attention the UK Public sector, it occurred to me that perhaps there has been just a bit too much simplification, glossing over complexity and context,  just to score political points.

With over twenty years experience in major multi-nationals, and over five years in the Public Sector, including Central and Local Government, plus International Agencies, I thought that it would be helpful to dispel a few myths. This week, I am going to embellish the content with my own experience. As I introduce new…

View original post 1,567 more words

Read original – Dog walking could be key to ensuring activity in later life | EurekAlert! Science News

Read the original in a highly cited new study has showing that regularly walking a dog boosts levels of physical activity in older people, especially during the winter. Researchers found that owning or walking a dog was one of the most effective ways to beat the usual decline in later-life activity, even combatting the effects of bad weather. Dog owners were sedentary for 30 minutes less per day, on average.

Source: Dog walking could be key to ensuring activity in later life | EurekAlert! Science News

Whilst the results are intuitive, the study adds value in supporting the need for adults, especially older people, to get more excercize. However, this is only part of the story. It needs to be combined with a healthy diet and weight control, especially avoidance of obesity. Another factor is moderate consumption of alcohol. Additionally, in North America, the primary cause of death for the under fifties is now drug abuse, particularly opioids. If addicts can’t look after themselves, surely they should be excluded from having pets?

Regretably, too many families don’t give their dogs enough excercize – they’re too lazy or selfish to be dog owners really – they just want to dog’s affection or to put photos on facebook. Also the dog walking seems to go to the same family member, if at all. Why not have quality family time with the whole family and the dog?

It’s a shame that the mainstream media that’s citing this new resaerch are not putting in in a proper context.

Thoughts?