If you are a Board Chair of a government body and you don’t hold your colleagues accountable for the professional and timely publication, as mandated, of public accounts, reports, meeting agenda and minutes etc, what exactly are you holding them to account for? We place trust and power in our government institutions, and that trust is reciprocated in leaders making prudent decisions with scarce resources and professionalism. Whether intended or not, a lack of discipline in managing the basics leads to deeper questions about the efficacy of those leading government bodies.

A New York Times writer impresses his fellow journalists with a condescending story about the past decade of Conservative leadership in Great Britain. One that ideologically is poles apart from his own personal beliefs.

A host of informed American friends of mine “surprised”, ask me about a local’s perspective. When I point out that Britain’s reputation only trails Trump in the NYT “hitlist”, irrespective of the facts, they are resigned to acceptance that the “US newspaper of record” is so divorced from reality that they question why they bother reading the paper.

A 55 year old tanned luxury business owner walks into the changing room of an upscale gym after an intense workout, and starts a discourse with a member about their respective weekends. “I did mushrooms and MDNA, no cocaine.” The other individual replies, “I should give you the name of this wonderful woman, very high quality and discreet.” They depart after exchanging greetings.

Why do I feel slightly queezy and disappointed? Is it the thought that two seemingly healthy, friendly and successful individuals are at one extreme making every effort to be in the best physical shape, and at the other end, embracing a clearly destructive lifestyle? Is it the nagging thought that they might be doing hard drugs possibly in my presence? Is it my business? Not really. Who am I to judge them?

We imagine in life that we are amongst like-minded souls but when that turns out not to be the case, we have choices. We can confront the individuals or management with our dissatisfaction (what do we ideally want to happen?) We can adapt (train at a different time of day). We can ignore it, satisfying ourselves this is an isolated incident (no meaningful impact on us). At the other extreme, we can choose not to come again.

We are not powerless. I tell this story because way too often I hear smart people whingeing to me about events inside their control and influence. Do something about it, you have choices, don’t ignore them.

Look around at the mistakes teenagers and twentysomethings make (financial, gambling, borrowing etc) and invariably, there is a woeful lack of understanding of probability and risk. Indeed, that is magnified in extreme risk situations and risk-taking (addiction, covid, war and so on), where default “cost/benefit” analysis is irrelevant. In order to thrive, you must first survive, is one of the first lessons gamblers learn. When the risk-taking education in the home or classroom is so weak, little wonder our kids are prone to dumb mistakes.

A quick tour through my Instagram timeline, a more refined repository of self-promotion than Facebook, reveals swathes of mostly females of a certain age, desperately projecting their health and lifestyle. The volume of content creation is impressive but so is the overwhelming inanity. Who do they want to be known as? How does this help them in support of who they want to be known as? Who really cares?

If the taxpayer and State has largely funded the career of a public official or Royal Family member, created their wealth and built their media profile, why don’t the “profits” or a significant portion of them from their post-career work, not return to the taxpayer and State (“pay-back”)? When did we agree that years of public service are a legitimate and “free” resume-building tactic?

I walked down Regent Street in London at 7pm last night and there were crowds 10 deep on the pavements outside the shops. Entering into a Levi’s jeans store there were queues (largely tourists) for the fitting rooms and at checkout. It appears the design of these shops, and their ability to attract, nurture and retain talent is under significant stress. All this at a time the media would have you believe strikes from all manner or professions are crippling cities. The evidence is that London’s popularity for retail shopping, entertainment and tourism is soaring again. This is one of the most exciting places in the world.

The former UK Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, takes a “break” to go and appear on a celebrity reality TV show and tells the public it is about politicians becoming more relatable to a younger demographic. That is not credible in a digital age.

Let’s be honest, he is not alone. It is a decision made first in his own self-interest to escape the dwindling passion that he has for his principle career, a Member of Parliament, his constituents, and to become a person of wider public interest to increase his future lifestyle choices. Many businesses had a “sabbatical” programme pre-Covid for those in their mid- and later career wanting a break. For a variety of reasons, they have been sidelined in many cases. Although 3 weeks, is hardly going to change anyone’s perspective.

It is quite reasonable to want a career change or greater excitement. Design the role that accommodates those wishes and provides tremendous value to others. Just don’t arbitrarily do that in the midst of having committed to others that you will put their self-interests first.

My daughter’s London school class has a number of Russian children and others with connections to the Ukraine. Wisely, the Headmistress wrote to all members of the school community asking them to be alert to divergent views, and apply common sense and respect to how we communicate with each other. Yet that wisdom is endangered by politicians, broadcast, social and print media, which cannot separate the fact that you can abhor what is happening in the Ukraine, yet have a great affinity for a people, who brought us Chekhov, Dostoevsky and the Mariinsky Theatre. We can be disdainful of a country’s leadership (Assad, Maduro, Khamenei, Putin) but supportive of its’ people’s future. There is zero inconsistency.

Ukraine, Covid, immigration, cancel culture, Brexit, public education, China/US tensions and so on leave many thinking they live in a world where they have little or no control and influence over their destiny. You are right if all you do is sit listening to news presenters and “experts” wheeled on rolling news shows. There is healthy absorption of news, and then there is “excessive noise”, conjecture, based largely on random events propelled by fear. Many of those presenting and sharing their expertise are not free. They are “prisoners” to the bosses and organisations that they work for. The ratings they earn, the eyeballs they attract and the viral dissemination of their ideas. Their families depend on the proceeds they earn from their work, their children the choice of schools they attend, and their pets for the food they can put on the table!

Absorb what you need to know, not everything for a healthy perspective.