The Economist (June 11)
“Britain is stuck in a 15-year rut. It likes to think of itself as a dynamic, free-market place, but its economy lags behind much of the rich world. There is plenty of speechifying about growth, and no shortage of ideas about how to turn the country round. But the mettle and strategic thinking that reform requires are absent.”
Tags: Dynamic, Economy, Free market, Growth, Ideas, Lags, Mettle, Reform, Rich world, Rut, Speechifying, Strategic thinking, UK
NBC News (January 1)
“Millions of us feel a great sense of loss. Our divorce from the European Union will hinder the freedom of movement of people — and ideas.” While it is “a relief that a deal to govern U.K.-E.U. relations post-divorce was done at all,” the deal did not deliver new freedoms. Essentially it achieved “a loss of freedoms, quite the opposite of what we were promised.”
Chicago Tribune (July 19)
“A cubicle-free workplace without private offices is supposed to force employees to collaborate. To have them talk more face-to-face. To get them off instant messenger and spontaneously brainstroming about new ideas.” It’s not happening. A recent study found that after a move “to open-plan offices, workers spent 73 percent less time in face-to-face interactions. Meanwhile, email rose 67 percent and IM use went up 75 percent.”
Tags: Brainstroming, Collaborate, Cubicle, Email, Employees, Face-to-face, Ideas, IM, Open-plan offices, Workplace
Washington Post (August 8)
The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit was truly “an extraordinary event. That may sound like hype, but the gathering featured some innovative new ideas to prevent terrorism and lawlessness from spreading in Africa as it has in the Middle East.”
Tags: Africa Leaders Summit, Ideas, Innovative, Lawlessness, Middle East, Spreading, Terrorism, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (August 7)
“The most striking fact about the recently announced sale of the Boston Globe and Washington Post is their low prices…. The prices reflect the decline of newspapers as a business in the Internet age, which is the kind of creative destruction millions of Americans have experienced. Disruption is the price a capitalist economy pays for innovation, and the news business is merely the latest example.” The new owners should be welcomed as they provide “an opportunity for new ideas and perhaps a turnaround.”
Tags: Boston Globe, Capitalism, Creative destruction, Decline, Disruption, Ideas, Innovation, Internet, Newspapers, Opportunity, Owners, Prices, Turnaround, Washington Post