I think I’m one of the few people in Sydney whose spirits rise at the site of a grey ghost (parking police). I live in an area which is mixed – about 50% of my street is businesses, mostly advertising agencies and design studios. The whole street is residents parkingContinue Reading
Today is International Women’s Day, and as Tigtog has reminded me, it’s Blog against sexism day. Why aren’t there more women in senior management? In Australia, according to the EOWA (pdf), of Australia’s top 200 listed companies, 8.7% of directors are female, and 12% of senior exectuives (CEOs plus direct reports) areContinue Reading
To become an actuary, at a minimum you need to spend two years post degree working full time and studying. Very occasionally, people do it in less, but it’s a very vocational piece of study, so you are much better off working at the same time. Most exams have passContinue Reading
John Howard had a column recently in the SMH about education. It was mostly a rant about the way education works these days – “Many of the fads and politically correct fashions that have found their way into our schools undermine the quality of education. Where Big Brother or a text messageContinue Reading
A few years ago, I used to have a colleague who travelled a lot. He was notorious for emails written at 3 am from some airport lounge ripping into someone who had made a mistake (even if only in his eyes when considered at 3 am). He copied people in,Continue Reading
As I was reading the Financial Review this morning, this quote caught my eye: “The Howard government has raised the art of hypocrisy to levels not previously seen by mankind, but …. to actually block the [Qantas] takeover would be breathtakingly bad policy, politics and plain dumb.” I haven’t reallyContinue Reading
Longevity risk is the risk that you live too long. Not a problem, most people would think. But there’s a financial risk – if you live longer than the money you have saved during your lifetime will last. Most actuaries fervently believe that this a risk that you should insureContinue Reading
We’ve just registered Chatterboy for his first soccer season – he’ll be in the Under 6s. We thought long and hard about it, as we’re not sure he’s going to enjoy it at the beginning, but think it’s really important to learn a social sport that you can continue throughoutContinue Reading
We’ve been watching a depressing British TV show called Bodies – set in a hospital with an incompetent senior obstetrician. The storyline of the first series follows the various ways different doctors deal with the incompetence – from ignoring it, to trying to stop it happening subtly, to reporting itContinue Reading
This morning, first thing, I cycled around to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair and back. The city was just waking up, with volunteers out early getting ready for various Australia Day events. There were bunches of volunteers meticulously sweeping the streets ready for the Australia Day 10k wheelchair race. There were queues ofContinue Reading