Another Day Another Microsoft Nightmare - How Do They Get Away With It?

As a small business, I use Microsoft Automatic updates to make sure I get the latest security and bug fixes automatically installed but once again I have awoken to find the 'refreshed' Internet Explorer IE 7 cannot find the internet.

Before you say it, I am using another machine to write this.

As I write

As I write, I have been talking to some poor soul in a country on the other side of the world on my landline and his VoIP with what appears to be a bunch of animals in the background cackling and whooping more like a zoo than a professional call centre. This is the world of Microsoft Support. So far, due the extremely poor phone line and the interminable series of scripted questions, we have spent 60 minutes on the line to determine indeed my browser is not working and yet my external connection is fine, as was given in my opening statement where I told the poor fellow I could still receive mails in Outlook. Exactly the same problem as last time. The helpless chap has just realised that in fact I was routed to the wrong area and so is incapable of solving the problem. This after just over 60 minutes, so I have to call back on the same number.

When The Pursuit of Profit Stifles Service

This is the second time I have experienced the exact same problem. I already know that a rogue patch or update is causing the problem and all I need to know is which one it is, how to uninstall it, wind back the clock to last night so that I can do what I am supposed to be doing, which is trying to do some business.

The problem here is that Microsoft have long lost the connection between service and satisfaction. Maybe some day it will suffer a significant slowdown in sales and profit to realise just because you are big, you can't forget the customer.

That will be some day.

The Dark Lord Rises

A few months ago, the twice sacked pariah of the New Labour Government, was languishing in his lavish office in Brussels wondering whose expensive boat he could Summer on to have his back scratched when suddenly he gets the call from HQ - "Save Our Souls".

Since then Peter Mandelson was hastily given a peerage and installed as the most powerful man in Britain. The man known in Political Circles as the 'Prince of Darkness' was now the 'Dark Lord' and, boy, was he going to get payback.

Fact is Stranger Than Fiction

If JK Rowling had written it herself we would not have believed it. It's as if Dumbledore had called up Voldemort and buried the hatchet, forgotten all those horrible spells and dark magic, and puckered his lips and kissed the backside of The Dark Lord.

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, and GB indeed puckered his lips, closed his eyes and pinched his nose - there it wasn't so bad after all. Suddenly, Lord Mandelson has a new Teflon sheen - no Deripaska saga could get in his way even though through some oversight he did not inform his mandarins in Brussels that he had indeed met the Russian Aluminium Tycoon BEFORE the crucial vote to lower tariffs on Russian aluminium. Whiffs of guilt slip by now not like the old days when he was caught bending the rules and Bad Uncle Tony used to send him to the dunce's corner. How he hated that.

Now Lord Mandelson struts the corridors of power with a confidence he could never have dreamed he could have - thanks to an economic disaster.

Power, Power, Power

This week, in interview with The Sunday Times, Mandelson showed he wields the most powerful stick of all. The magic wand that can save industries or businesses in this recession. He is now on record as saying that there is 'no open cheque book' to save UK plc. He will arbitrate who is deserved of his charity. Companies 'with flawed business plans and no hopes of recovery' would be left to whither, he growled. Quite how that was applied to Northern Rock we will never know as if ever there was a worthless wreck with a flawed plan and no hope.....well, that was before The Dark Lord took the reins.

Now it is a different story.

He is already viewing Jaguar Land Rover and Vauxhall with his new tough eyes and there is no indication they will be the recipients of his royal magic. Though he does admit that some large businesses with heavy repercussions on unemployment may be viewed differently. Broadly, the only exceptions will be for those companies that specialise in areas that Britain will need in order to become a 'broader-based knowledge driven and low-carbon economy' although he declined to point out which sectors this would apply to but it is thought to be those which are creating what is termed 'green collar' jobs. Or those who deal in Russian Aluminium - maybe?

Tough Guy For Tough Problems

Mandelson has gone on to say 'There is no open cheque book but a series of tough tests.' I think the message is plain from the tough man - 'if you have a nice yacht, let's talk.'

Interestingly, Mandelson has stressed there is no queue outside his door - which falls in line with my own theory that generally executives are too busy spending last year's bonuses to worry about the recession yet. When the Wall is inevitably Hit, I dare say they will come, cap in hand to pay homage at the feet of Britain's most powerful man and beg for survival. In a show of his brutal strength, he has already advised he does not expect to see a queue.

'We have made it clear that they need to look for alternative sources of lending before they can expect a response from Government,' said the Dark Lord ominously.

Who Would Have Believed It?

Since Mandelson's remarkable rehabilitation, he has risen dramatically to the very top of Government, wearing the mantel of power as if it was always meant for him. Gone are the days of the seedy affairs involving loans from Geoffrey Robinson, or the passport affair of the Hinduja Brothers or even the Deripaska mystery or even the Millennium Dome Fiasco, the unelected formerly disgraced Politician is now Lord Mandelson and is the most powerful man in Britain.

Pinch yourself - it's true.

"It's Just So Unfair!" - By A. Dog

I recently responded to an advertisement in the Vienna Post to participate in some research. I and a group of friends went to meet Professor Friederike Range of the University of Vienna's Neurobiology Department (and trying saying that when you are trying to lick your own genitals).

The Perfectly Obvious

Firstly we were asked to participate in a number of experiments which involved being offered treats in turn for raising a paw. Sometimes I worry about the human fascination of offering treats for tricks, we would be perfectly happy to pay - but each to their own, I suppose.

The Professor kept cooing and gasping then scribbling avidly on his note pad each time one of us received the treat. He seemed particularly fascinated by the obvious. For instance, whenever he offered my mate Rover a treat instead of me, I took the cob. This seemed to amaze Freidericke and he shouted something about 'Ve Hav been zo wrong - zese beasts hav ein self-image'. To be honest he sounded more like Max Mosley than a Professor but I digress.

What seemed to elude him was that we dogs have a great deal of self awareness and self image, I mean why else would we slurp at our own private parts all day? He seemed to think beforehand that we dogs lacked a sense of self but I have always been fascinated by the smell of my rear end and the contents of my ears. He also thought that we needed to have 'secondary emotions' in order to have a 'sense of self' like jealousy, embarrassment, empathy or guilt.

But I can tell you, I experience all of those and had he bothered to ask rather than put us through endless daft experiments, I would have told him.

Den of Inequity

You see when Rover was offered the treat ahead of me I was well peeved. It was clear the treat should have been mine but that furry swine stuck his nose in first and I swear the Prof actually angled his hand toward him. Well Is showed him - I turned my head in a haughty pout and awaited the next treat with some disdain. What he didn't know was when he turned to scribble in his notes, I gave Rover a good biff and he was suitably contrite.

You see, we dogs have feelings you know and if there's one thing we cannot stand it's unfair treatment.

Next, the Prof denied me the treat by offering it then withdrawing it several times. I don't mind saying I was pretty livid so I gave him a pretty decent whack with my paw when he stuck his hand out next to make sure he knew who was boss. He labelled this as anger.

Finally, Petra the standard poodle was prancing about at the back the class so while Bowser was getting his turn she and I went behind the desk for a bit of slap 'n' tickle and howsyourfather if you get my drift. I came out with very nice smile on my face and the Prof was very chuffed as it showed both lust and joy. Petra wasn't so enthusiastic as she had mistaken me for a sheepdog. When she told me that, I flew into a fit of jealousy and went off and had good sulk in the basket.

Having a Laugh

It struck me that humans are more stupid than I ever thought. What the experiments taught me was that in a time of something they call an economic downturn humans still fund daft experiments like this by highly paid academics in well funded universities. I could have got on the internet and asked around 30 of my doggie mates on Facebook and we could have told you all you wanted to know for nothing.

But that's humans for you, they are just like consultants - they charge you the earth for the perfectly obvious.

Bonanza Is Over - Where's My Bonus?

It's hard to comprehend but Mr. Thain, CEO of Merrill's, who were saved at zero hour from going bust like Lehmans, has actually lobbied his Board for a $10m bonus saying if it wasn't for him the company would have gone bust.

I had to read it several times to work out whether this was a joke but sadly it is the Financial mentality - no doubt if he doesn't get it he will ask for $5m because he kept the office windows clean during the crisis. The fact that because of his mismanagement the entire company was at risk seems to have alluded him.

It's that bonus culture (some would say hallucination) which many believe got the banking sector into the terrible mess we see and it's heartwarming to know the little lambs are suffering and in need of bonuses despite the end of the bonanza.

Hey, Leave Off The Bankers

Let's face it, our friendly but greedy banking executives were not the only ones guzzling the rich honey of short term success. And I know you will reach for your hankies on this tear-jerking story.

Knight Frank, commercial property estate agents (no please, read on) have suffered a 40% decline in sales since their new year started in April. Further the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have forecasted that commercial property prices could halve in price by the end of next year, making this crash worse than the one experienced in the 1970s.

The staff and partners at Knight Frank shared out a measly £81m from the bonus pool last year while in April they only had £46.4m to share out and that to go around 28% more staff than the previous year, don't you know. The 46 partners, bless them, had average bonuses of £780,000. They are cautiously optimistic for next year they say.

Er, hello! The bonanza is over chaps, sales down 40% and rapidly falling prices after increasing staff by 28%. Get out those pencils and do the sums. The bonus pot will only be good to stop the leaky roof this year, I'm afraid.

The Scale of Things

Like the housing market, commercial property is set to slump alarmingly and forecasts recovery in 2011 according to RICS. Capital values have already slumped 25% since August 2007 and they predict drops of a further 16% this year and 10% next year. The belief is we are only half way in what they describe as a 'Price Correction' which always meant to me someone correcting a wrong digit, not slashing by two.

More worryingly, the CBI has reported that there is a marked slowdown in the Service Sector which accounts for 75% of UK economic growth and is suffering its worst drop in activity since records began a decade ago. The CBI calmly urged employees to prepare for a rush of redundancies - no 'Don't panic!' cry there then. To add to all this woe, the CBI further said profitability for consumer and business services were falling at unprecedented rates as appetite for spending dries up. To put a final nail in it, they said job losses in the Service Sector had been minimal so far but would falls would get faster in the coming months. Thanks.

Just a Slight Reminder

I know I have harped on about this but I get it every day - 'My business is recession proof' or 'I have not felt any effect yet' and so on. What the CBI is saying is that we haven't even started feeling it yet. The Service Sector is bloated with excess profit from the good years and it is very ripe for popping. For all those servicing major or minor businesses, it is a time to start to review that pipeline and check whether you are being realistic, then doing something about it. Things are changing very rapidly from day to day and those who do not plan to do something about the recession will be the victims and spectacularly so.

If you don't know what this means, just read my blogs or call me and I would be happy to explain.

Motown Has Got The Blues

GM down 41%, Ford down 30%, Chrysler 47% - the sad roll call of declining annual sales to November shows the US car industry in meltdown. The UK reported new car sales down 21% earlier this quarter while Honda has retrenched and pulled out F1 motorsport in a bid to cut costs.

Loads of Money

The hazy diagram above illustrates the extent to which US consumers leveraged the equity in their houses as compared to their household disposable income in order to raise funds to spend more. The graph for the UK is worse and it shows the extent to which we have dipped further into our equity to fuel the growth of the last 10 years which is why the IMF is predicting Britain has further to fall than the US in this recession, contrary to Government opinion. Real incomes down but spending was up. It was no coincidence that we all saw a glut of Aston Martins on our roads as Britons used their home equity to buy luxury goods beyond their means as 49% of all mortgages at its peak were re-mortgages. No one read the obvious signs of a bubble over-ripe to burst explosively although it has more shrunk due to lack of gas.

But can the car industry be blamed for not anticipating this dramatic downturn in sales? Currently, the US car industry is looking for a collective bail out of $35bn which is small fry compared to the Banks but still an awful lot of money.

So Should The Car Industry Be Bailed Out Too?

My question is - where do we draw the line? The car makers alone are the tip of the iceberg. You then have all the ancillary suppliers, component makers and service industries which are entirely dependent on the car makers keeping their production lines moving. Because the bail out will not be to stimulate the industry it will be to mothball it. Why? Because for a car maker to sell their cars in this climate they will have to at least sell their entire finished stock at cost or below but even then, thrift-minded consumers are going to think twice about buying an expensive item which will depreciate by a minimum of 20-30% within the next 12 months. It is throwing money down a drain so the market will simply stop.

In many respects this is the problem that Gordon Brown faces in the UK over housing. Firstly, nearly half all mortgages up to August 2007 were Mortgage Equity Withdrawals (MEWs) and secondly the market is falling. Just like buying an expensive car, the house-asset will drop the moment you buy it by up to 20% in the next 12 months. So if there is no equity to leverage and the asset is depreciating, even if the interest rate is as low 2% at base, it still makes financial nonsense to buy a new house.

So Which Are Vulnerable Businesses?

What the graph illustrates is that the spending boom over the last 10 years was not created by the average household increase in disposable income in the US or UK - in fact disposable income shrank over the period so we should have afforded less. Income was massively supplemented by a new wealth machine - our own banknote printer and 'Money Creation' device - our houses.

For those who do not believe money cannot created or destroyed and there is zero sum finance listen in. As house prices grew 160% over the last 10 years in Britain, people began withdrawing some of the increased value (equity) by re-mortgaging and effectively issuing bonds or IOUs to themselves. Mortgage Companies were happy to redeem the IOU as cash because it was backed by the equity in their home. We, the consumers, then went on spending sprees buying second homes in sunny climates, new cars, extensions and renovations to our houses, fabulous holidays, far more regular trips to expensive restaurants, lots more clothes and upmarket fashions, and then filled our houses with the most latest mega-flatscreen TVs, Home Cinema set ups and latest wizardry like mobile phones, ipods etc.

So those businesses will get affected by the lack of cash as the house prices decline and that IOU we withdrew on our equity is worth far less and in many cases nothing. In other words, we have borrowed money with a lack of security and in many cases negative security or equity.

Money has indeed been destroyed as value has been destroyed.

Already 75,000 homes have been repossessed this year higher than the number affected in the slump of 1991 - and the figures are terrifying as mortgage providers estimate up to 2 to 3 million households could go into negative equity before the house market starts to recover some time in 2011. With unemployment set to rise to 3 million in the next 2 years, the Government backed scheme to protect those who cannot repay their mortgages from repossession for up to 2 years looks like King Canute in a storm. But the potential liability for taxpayers is huge as we underwrite all the schemes, tax cuts and generosity of these schemes with the sure knowledge we will be paying for them in the future.

The domino effect of lack of equity and capability to spend has already hit the building industry for new homes and many major firms like Barratt have reined in their operations. But all the local tradesmen builders who have benefited from cheap money for extensions and renovations will be affected as will Estate Agents, conveyance lawyers and insurance salespeople who rely on new mortgages going through. Savills reported an 82% collapse in high end house sales in a single quarter while the average Agent sells just one house per week in the South of England.

And what of foreign homes? many countries like Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, Bulgaria and others have benefited in micro-markets for new homes as Brits and Germans in particular rushed to spend their equity cheques on new homes, many raising mortgages abroad. If you asked the locals, they would tell you they could not afford the prices in these micro-markets so if times get hard and the foreigners have to sell, who will buy their homes? The locals won't at those prices. Such micro-markets are ticking time bombs and could collapse spectacularly at any time.

We have already seen MFI go to the wall - it had a highly discounted selling model which lacked services to underpin it so it was a disaster waiting to happen. But it is indicative of the kind of business right in the firing line as fitted kitchens and bedrooms were prime examples of how leveraged equity was being spent. Perhaps one of the most alarming casualties has been Woolies. The High St low-end specialist had the ideal model of decent goods at decent prices, surely it should survive better than most? But what it shows is that marginally profitable businesses are right in the firing line - it only takes a small decrease in sales to punch a major hole in profits and if you are dependent on high borrowing you are doubly at risk.

How Vulnerable Are You?

Downturns have domino effects. As one industry like the car industry is affected, all those in some way dependent on them will get in some way affected. This is the dilemma Governments face as it is more like the little boy with his finger in the dyke than the domino effect. If the finger is removed the entire dyke collapses. And if that happens, how many industries can we afford to step in to save? We have the banks and car industry so far, next will be insurance maybe - then who? Rumours abound about the steel industry.

For us mere mortals, I have urged everyone to review their sales pipeline and look at their exposure to expected business from companies who are vulnerable already. I have recently spoken to one company who found 60% of their sales pipeline depended on the financial sector - there was no point in believing business from there would carry on, they had to rapidly change the profile of customer and re-mobilise their sales activities very quickly to replace all those opportunities with new ones. Telecoms has already stalled with BT laying off 6%of staff and Virgin Media following suit.

Now is also not the time to be exposed to any single major customer. Woolies' fate might have been avoided because their customer base is so spread but it didn't help them. If any customer in your business represents more than 10% of your revenue and you are a marginal profit based business (i.e. reselling) without a great service business then you are right in the firing line. A dip in sales to a major customer could be the difference between surviving and disaster. So go check your business now, review the pipeline and your current business and do something to protect yourself.

The Road Ahead

What the car Industry collapse has taught us is the speed and effect of a recession is frightening. We have not even technically started the recession to already see the effect because despite what economists have said it started in August 2007 when the credit crunch was initiated. While the sub-prime market showed how daft the lending policy had become, what it did was to expose the flawed business model of not just the financial sector but Governments too. And despite what Mr. Brown says about the current problems starting in the US, it was a good old home grown problem which was far worse in the UK where sub-prime is a minimal issue (barring a few 125% mortgages etc).

We funded an economy on leveraging the increased equity in homes not on the goods we produced, our productivity or endeavours. Now there is only so much we can do to save our industries and it will mean the Government will step in and preferentially save certain industries and businesses - they cannot save them all. And that will cheese off all the rest who suffer by losing their jobs without intervention. It won't be pretty.

Cut Tax and Tax Collectors - Good Strategy?

Okay, I wasn't at all sure about the strategy to spend your way out of a recession and all the juicy tax giveaways were somewhat perplexing as we hit austere times, but that's what the Keynes Theory said so that's what we'll do.

In fact the Government were so committed to this that they said they would not cut spending on major enterprises and in fact bring them forward. And to try and help businesses not cut jobs, it would encourage banks to led more freely.

So what's this about 3,400 jobs going at HMRC? As tax gets more complex and the Government faces a hole in collections in the near future, plus its commitment to keep jobs, why is a major Government Department shedding staff?

Public Sector Jobs - The Reality

Well over a year ago, 1 in 4 jobs were in the Public Sector as New Labour's focus on bureaucracy created a job bonanza. For the sole purpose of pandering to the philandering John Prescott, the previously non-existent Department of The Deputy Prime Minister sprang up to insert itself as an extra layer of fat in an already top-heavy planning regime. As the economy grew, Public Service Departments and layers of Government swelled with the New Welsh and Scottish Assemblies buying themselves brand new buildings ignoring the plentiful empty office space in their countries in order to provide much needed shelter for all those important and expenses-rich politicians. The good times rolled in.

But as the downturn and Credit Crunch bites, unemployment in the Private Sector has risen sharply and so that proportion of jobs in the Public Sector grew and it was once again obvious to the man in the street something had to give. For all the Big Talk about rescuing the economy, the reality is that Gordon Brown is not King Canute. Jobs will have to go and that's an economic fact.

Recession Hurts

There is no hiding from the effects of recession. As much as you can lower interest rates to stimulate a housing market that has some 15-20% of fall left in it, the corresponding effect is that Britain becomes less attractive for foreign investors and our currency takes a pounding (excuse the pun) as George Osbourne was reprimanded for pointing out. Over £200bn has drained out of the UK financial markets in less than a few months and that again creates another hole in invisible earnings as Britain fights to recover.

Desperate Schemes Lacking Execution Skills

Yesterday we saw an interesting move to help those facing mortgage difficulties. It is a fair assumption to make that someone losing their job does not mean they don't intend to pay so are not really a bad credit risk. However, the details are the devil as if the person cannot restart repayments after 2 years then their house is repossessed and if it cannot repay the outstanding mortgage at auction then the Government will underwrite the difference to the mortgage provider, i.e. the taxpayer.

Umm, so who pays the 2 years of deferred interest? Oh the mortgage company does - well that will serve them right for being so greedy in the past. You know the ones who actually tripped over themselves to give away money and stoked up the economy to its current heights without which the Government would not have had a 'stable economy' in the last 10 years. No wonder the Banks don't want to lend if they stand to lose out. Bail out the fat cats but leave the mortgage providers in the lurch.

The Lord Giveth and The Lord Taketh

As we absorb all this bonhomie of tax cuts and decrease in inflation, ignoring the job losses, it almost slipped our attention that Councils have been granted the right to add up to 2% on business rates in their areas in order to boost economic developments. So while there is some relief on tax it will be grabbed back again in another charge. Nice one - it should fund a few 'fact finding' mission to exotic places to see how its done on the beaches in Thailand.

Crazy, Crazy

I can't help feeling there is a forlorn belief by Mr. Brown that a 2.5% cut in VAT, a couple of snippets on tax and lower interest rates are going to blow away an economic downturn that has been pending for some years and get the housing market all stoked up a again. Repossessions are rising fast and the new figure is 75,000 this year and while interest is at its lowest since 1951, we are now back at the giddy heights of 1991 for repossessions. When the Conservatives were in power - so the clock has been reset after the boom time and we can no longer have the age-old argument about the last Government because we are now officially in a worse position. I wish.

You do not need to be a genius to work this out. If a mortgage company offers a mortgage based on 90% of the house value today and the market drops 20% in the next year, the householder will be in negative equity and the asset at risk. If there is a risk that householder will lose their job then the mortgage company would be barmy to lend money. In Germany deposits have to be around 40% of the value - at this rate in the UK a minimum of 80% deposit would be required here for break even after one year. It doesn't make sense.

At current values and forecast - the housing market will not save this economy and pouring more fuel into a broken engine will not make it move. As caring as it may have sounded, the Government is fast building up the liabilities of the taxpayer from bail out of banks to underwriting the housing market. With falling tax revenues to come, we face an almighty reckoning at some point. Why not retrench today, cut spending and focus on surviving not pretending a recession is not here and spending like obsessed gamblers?

A Quantum of Conscience

Quantum Physics is a heck of a thing to get your head round. Central to its concept is that by viewing any particular event, the result is changed by the act of viewing it. No such thing as voyeurism at that level.

Quantum Physics - A Metaphor For Life?

Hardly - Quantum Physics underpins life itself. However, there is a parallel in that each new life, each existence, each death has some impact upon the earth that will forever change it.

I don't believe that to be a theory - it's a truism.

The benefit of being a particle is that it may not care what impact it had while at the macro level every life has an impact and so has a responsibility for creating a future. Either that is in producing offspring or just trying to make the place civil enough to live in, humans have a burden of responsibility like no other particle or animal to help create a future.

Corporate and Social Responsibility

This blog piece was prompted by a lively discuss on I joined on the IOD Forum on Linked In. A question on Maternity Payments which was labelled 'Have the Lunatics Taken Over the Asylum' which berated European Lawmakers for introducing ever more onerous payments for Maternity Leave. It's certainly true that such payments and Maternity Leave itself hits SME businesses much harder than larger companies yet the levels of payments are exactly the same. As a small business owner and a person experienced in running SMEs, I know how hard that cost can be.

The trouble with the particular argument, and it is a perennial concern, is that where does social and corporate responsibility stop and start. You see, at the heart of the question, unspoken or not, is why should employers have to pay for the new generation of children. Maternity in the Employer's eyes is often as a lifestyle choice and should not burden the company cost. In the thread of the discussion, one contributor asserted that the sole purpose of businesses was wealth creation which contributed to the greater good. Even a lady professed 'it was not a company's responsibility to bring up the next generation'.

I argued otherwise.

Evolution of Corporate Responsibility

If we take the assertion that businesses are there solely to create wealth for the shareholders etc then I would suggest left to their own devices, most businesses would try to obtain as much profit for the lowest cost as quickly as possible. Without any encumbrances like laws, most businesses would not have evolved from the 18th century. Over a long period, things have changed and for the better too. After all the riots, demonstrations, strikes, unions which did not always help us business-wise, we have arrived at a point where companies have a responsibility to earn their profits within a framework of law which is designed to stop doing it without regard to everything else. We have a minimum wage, we have Maternity Leave and allowances, we have Health and Safety Laws, we have Carbon Emission restrictions and lots more. Gone are the days of companies polluting rivers without recourse, gone are the days of companies killing their workers and other people by exposing them to toxic chemicals without recourse, gone are the days when a coloured person had to worry about discrimination.

Or have they? What the debate showed is that when it comes to cost and profits, companies should be allowed to earn their profits without any thought to their employees or the outside world. It took laws, lots of laws, over a long time to get us to where we are now and what we have learnt along the way is that companies will not take on such responsibilities unless compelled to do so. What we also know, is that companies will disregard the laws and responsibilities at the earliest opportunity if allowed it.

Corporate Responsibility in Practice

My father died of an industrial disease caused by exposure to asbestos which he inhaled having been compelled by his company to delag control rooms without proper protective equipment despite that fact the dangers of asbestos were discovered 30 years before. He was not the only one on that detail to die a hard and cruel death many years later fighting for his last breath. The only company he had ever served for over 40 years turned their backs and our family dealt with their insurance company who paid a nominal sum. That company turned in one of the largest profits in British corporate history last quarter.

That same company polluted its local environment and the spot where my father's ashes lie overlooks an unsightly black marsh where no wildlife thrives as it was a reservoir for dumping the contents of pipes - no amount of clearing up after the event has brought back the natural plants and animals despite the companies dazzling green logo.

In Alaska, my father commissioned the first oil down the pipeline from Prudhoe to Valdez and constantly berated his executives for lack of attention to safety and hazards - he had written several safety manuals in his old place of work. Despite that, a pump station explosion took a life and later a tanker spilt its contents into the waters around that beautiful place.

Did the company learn? No, in Texas a few years ago, a major disaster killed several people and the company was found again to be at fault. Yet last quarter it earned £billions in pre-tax profits.

At what price does profit come? And without the compulsion of law that company, amongst many, would never have changed because it found it hard to change even when compelled.

The Next Generation

You may think that I am using extreme examples to prove a case. Not really - if Maternity Laws were not introduced and enforced we would not only have less women in the workforce but we would have widespread discrimination against them - much more than there is already. Because if a female can justify that a company is not responsible for somehow playing a art in bringing up the next generation, you can bet your bottom dollar a man will not.

Here's a commercial take on it. Many businesses directly market to mothers and rely on them for profits, and many focus on young people to make money. That's simple. However, it is simple mathematics to work out that if life was not renewing itself, all of us would go out of business soon. So it makes commercial sense to support the next generation - we should be thanking women who take a career break to have children and encouraging them rather than discriminating against them and berating everyone for their cost. Yet even with laws, companies have a problem with it even though if women were not allowed to have that break then the economy would not grow at the same rate and the rate of births would likely drop - buying business a problem.

Just as with carbon emissions, companies do not see what that has to do with them. It's about that Quantum Theory thing again. We each have an impact on this earth and the bigger we get, i.e. companies, the bigger the effect. Companies have a huge responsibility to make their money the right way.

But We Do, Don't We?

Last year the top half dozen banks in North America paid out a collective $28bn in bonuses. This year one of those banks collapsed completely and the other has been bailed out by the US Treasury despite firing 72,000 staff. Greed is a very powerful opiate - it makes you think that only you are important and that wealth is king.

Corporates today at the highest level continue to behave without a conscience when they can. It starts at SMEs too. In the IOD thread a person struck the nail on the head and said that if he were running a small business now he would be very wary of employing women. Everyone thinks this a PC thing and laughs it off as a Brussels-induced hallucination - lunatics running the asylum.

We have moved on as a race thankfully. No one should get discriminated against for their gender, religion, sexuality or race - it's pretty fundamental.

How We Should Pay

Where I do sympathise with all my co-threaders at the IOD was that the amount that SMEs have to pay is disproportionate. As with personal tax, SMEs pay at the same scale no matter what their size but we all know the bigger or richer you are the more you can pay to 'mitigate' tax. But like most citizens, SMEs are soft touches - they pay. I do believe that within all the Corporation Tax and NI that employers pay some should be spent on supporting working mothers and that the great pool of tax out there should be covering SME businesses for these extra costs. One person going on maternity leave in a 10 person company is a huge cost to the business whereas one to someone like BT is trivial. And so the payments should be reflected in this and this is where the tax system can and should help.

Direct taxation has been the hallmark of this Government, forgetting its Socialist roots. I have no problem in BT having to pay a slightly higher rate of tax than my company in order to subsidise the hard hit SME in this situation. And should I ever grow my business to those giddy heights, I would gladly accept it the same way.

Good Behaviour

Without the framework of law, companies would earn their money in whatever way they could and ignore their responsibilities wherever possible. I don't have a massive amount of time for the 'lunatics running the asylum' in Brussels or anywhere else but I do believe without them, companies would have not changed by themselves.