Wait Coronavirus is teaching us to wait: to hear if workers have recovered; to learn if social distancing is enough to stop the spread; to achieve ‘herd immunity’ in populations; to see how long nations can sustain restrictions; to test when economic harm to quality of life exceeds health gain in length of life. On/off…
Category: W
Welsh rarebit Posh cheese on toast, Welsh rarebit dates back to 1500s when poor families couldn’t afford meat like rabbit. Cheese sauce, enriched with milk, ale or egg, spiked with mustard/ Worcester sauce & nutritious seaweed laverbread (‘Welshman’s caviar’). 3 Sep is Welsh Rarebit Day. Products can hop a long way from humble beginnings Guessed the…
Winner takes all Winner-takes-all nature of modern markets means top firm benefits don’t impact the whole economy, as in the past. Bank of England data: the most-productive 1% of firms raised productivity by 8% a year from 2004 – 2014. The other 99% barely raised productivity at all. Highly successful global companies can still leave…
White elephant When it arose, Canary Wharf was called a white elephant. But in 2012, it overtook the City of London as an employer of bankers & 120,000 people now work there. New challenge: how to remain king of the jungle & adapt its fortress-like towers to the open, flexible workspace now in vogue? Guessed…
Weaponisation How to make cities safe against the weaponisation of vehicles? Easy – the measures that make a city better also make it safer. Walk & cycle, rather than drive. City walls. Buildings with moats. Tight streets that resist traffic. Collapsible pavements that can’t bear heavy weights. The weaponization of vehicles shows we’re better off…
Women’s own Women tend to own less money than men. Besides the gender pay gap, there’s an investing gap. In the US, only about 1/2 of women have started saving for retirement (compared to 65% of men), and even those who’ve started have less than 1/2 the savings of men Guessed the Word? Series 39 (8/9) …
Weather What is normal British weather now? 2018 was UK’s joint hottest summer on record. So far, it’s been too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry for farmers, so will impact food prices. Feb/Mar: sub-zero temperatures. Apr: cold rain. May: unseasonally warm. Jun/Jul/Aug: baking hot. Sep/Oct: unusually mild. Nov/Dec: ????? Guessed the…
Wealth Even the largest fortunes can be squandered: Pulitzers, Vanderbilts, Woolworths. UK: “Clogs to clogs in 3 generations”. US: “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in 3 generations”. Italy: “Stable to stars to stable”. China: “From paddy to paddy in 3 generations”. Same sentiment in any language Guessed the Word? Series 30…
World Cup Fans need £120 ($150) to get all 681 Panini stickers, but most spend double that, even after swapping duplicates with pals. 2018 album extra-valuable as Italy (Panini’s home squad) not in the tournament for 1st time since 1958. Russia spent £8.3bn ($11bn) on infrastructure, stadiums, airport upgrades, transit for matches in 11 cities Guessed the Word? …
Water Firms worldwide are exposed to water risk, though rarely mentioned. Demand & prices rising as climate change impacts. 4-yr drought affecting California’s almond exports. South Africa’s water-stressed areas include mining & tourism. Cape Town has halved water consumption per head Guessed the Word? Series 26 (4/7) [pic:…