1 Weep for low UK productivity (Robert Peston on
BBC) Lower productivity undermines the competitiveness of British firms in the
global economy. And the absence of productivity growth undermines the ability
of British firms to increase our pay.
On the basis of the figures published this week, if
the productivity trends of 1992 to 2007 had continued from 2008 to the end of
last year, output per job would be 15% higher than it is, and output her hour
would be 17% higher. Which means, all other things being equal, each employee
would be paid 15% more in total, and 17% more for each standard shift put in.
Just think and weep over how much richer we all
would have been if our productivity had not been so hopeless. Which is why it
matters that in the last three months of 2014 there was no recovery in productivity.
In fact output per hour fell by 0.2% - because the number of hours worked rose
0.8% while gross value added, or the output of the economy, increased by just
0.6%.
Why has productivity been so limp? There are plenty
of competing explanations, which include: a. Productivity growth before the
crash was exaggerated by the spurious productivity of banks and City firms that
were taking crazy economy-imperilling risks; and b. Since the crash, too many
lame duck firms have been kept afloat, under pressure from politicians,
preventing the necessary re-allocation of capital from low-productivity firms
to better ones.
Getting to the root of the problem matters. Because
unless we can improve productivity, we won't be able to afford the living
standards we feel we deserve. Without a recovery in productivity and an
associated boost to earnings, tax revenues would remain under pressure, making
it all the harder to get the Government's huge deficit down to a more
affordable level.
2 Challenges ahead for new Nigeria leader (San
Francisco Chronicle) As Nigerians celebrated the electrifying victory that
returned one of its harshest former dictators to power, sobering challenges
confront Muhammadu Buhari, from an Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands
to widespread poverty and graft.
The 72-year-old Buhari made history as the first
opposition party candidate to win elections in Africa's most populous nation,
ending President Goodluck Jonathan's bid for another term. For a former general
who three decades ago led Nigeria following a coup, it was an amazing
transformation to a democratically elected president.
Fresh from his victory, Buhari warned the country's
brutal Boko Haram insurgents that he would be coming after them. The
bespectacled president-elect also warned that corruption would not be tolerated
after he takes office on May 29.
Boko Haram, whose barbarous campaign to establish an
Islamic "caliphate" has driven 1.5 million from their homes,
kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls and left large swathes of northern Nigeria
burned to ashes, has in recent weeks been hit hard by forces from Nigeria and
neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
Because of decades of military rule this was only
the eighth election since Nigeria won independence from Britain in 1960, and
the fifth since democracy was restored in 1999.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Buhari-Nigeria-embraces-democracy-1-party-state-6172126.php
3 Why failure isn’t a dirty word (Victoria Joy in
The Guardian) When JK Rowling delivered the 2008 Harvard commencement speech
about failure, her audience consisted of hundreds of students, their families
and the university’s faculty. But the impact of her words that day have since
reached far wider.
The struggling single mother was all but homeless
when a publisher finally took a punt on Harry Potter and it was this journey
that inspired her speech: not the difficult situation she found herself in, but
how failure can actually be a positive experience. “I’m not going to stand here
and tell you that failure is fun ... [but] I was set free, because my greatest
fear had been realised, and I was still alive,’’ Rowling explained from the
podium.
“The thing about failing is that we have to do it,”
explains psychologist Marisa Peer. “The only way we can learn anything at all
is by failing, because once you do something wrong or something doesn’t work
out, you’ll take action not to do it again. If you were overlooked for a role
because you didn’t speak up enough, then you sure as hell will make your voice
heard going forward.’
The key to overcoming failure, according to Peer, is
not in how you deal with the disappointment but how quickly you write it off as
experience and get back on track. If the worst thing about failure is the
negative judgment that often comes with it, learning to deal with criticism can
be a game-changer. “Answer criticism by thanking the speaker for their input.
You’re acknowledging their words as an opinion, and more importantly, one that
you’re not going to let in. They’ll think twice about speaking up next time.”
There’s also something to be said for speaking up
about your own failures. “Keeping something under wraps feeds your sense of
shame. Be open and the failure becomes part of your character, something that
others can respect,’’ advises Peer. As Rowling concluded so beautifully: “It is
impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously
that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by
default.’’
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