EDITION 940
10 OCTOBER 2022

There is no escaping it: too much news is bad for you. It should come with a government health warning: “This intellectual diet is fine taken in small doses, and preferably in weekly instalments, via a well-balanced newsletter, such as 10 things from William Montgomery."

So, as another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. Please feel free to share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can also subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did.

William Montgomery
Editor and CEO of TEN

1. How to defeat your inner dawdler. The best way to get something finished is to start it in the first place. However, that’s often much easier said than done, particularly if it’s a task you really don’t want to tackle. Overcoming procrastination can feel impossible, even when you know it’s for your own good. READ MORE >>

2. Truss to warn Tory MPs. Liz Truss will warn Tory MPs returning to Parliament this week to stop undermining her or face a “monstrous coalition” of Labour and the Scottish National Party. The party’s most senior volunteers have written an unprecedented open letter to The Telegraph warning MPs to “stop infighting, unite behind the PM and focus on delivering for this country and taking on the Labour Party”. Meanwhile, Truss is expected to succumb to pressure from her ministers to increase welfare benefits in line with inflation. Meanwhile, three-quarters of UK voters, including 71% of those who voted Tory in 2019, believe Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have “lost control” of the economy. 24%  of voters think they are still in control. The Observer

3. The Queen’s Icebreaker. ‘Have you come far?’ I always thought this question illustrated the banality to which the Queen was condemned by her superficial acquaintance with millions, but it is actually evidence of her subtle brilliance, for it is a version of ‘Where are you from?’ in language designed to avoid offence. That question is frowned on as subtly racist by some. Not asking, though, impoverishes human relations. The journeys people have taken, socially and geographically, are fascinating; to understand them you need to know where they started. ‘Have you come far?’ tactfully invites responses ranging from ‘Victoria on the number two bus’ to ‘From Vladivostok via Inner Mongolia, where I spent 20 years as a cattle-herder.’ The Times

4. Only 4% of FTSE 350 are women. Increasing the number of women in executive roles at the UK's top 350 firms could boost the economy by £58bn, a study says. According to report, firms are missing out on billons of pounds in pre-tax profits due to a lack of gender diversity across their leadership teams. Overall, the report found that: [1] Three quarters of executive committee members at FTSE 350 listed companies are male. [2] Some 96% of chief executives are also male. [3] Only 16% of profit and loss positions – roles that have a direct responsibility for a company's profitability – are held by women. [4] There are no women on the executive committees of 10% of the companies. [5] Almost 70% of firms have no female executive directors at all on their main boards of directors. Women Count 2022 Report

5. The baffling world of modern sexuality. British Airways has announced that it will review its uniform policy in light of a rival airline’s decision to allow male pilots and crew to wear skirts. Last month, Virgin Atlantic said it was scrapping its rules requiring staff to wear “gendered uniform options”, because it wanted them to be able to “express their true identity” at work. BA’s review follows its decision to drop references to “ladies and gentlemen” from its in-flight announcements. Meanwhile , since 2019, more than 5,000 empty passenger planes have flown to or from UK airports. A further 35,000 commercial flights have operated with fewer than 10% of seats filled. Editor

6. Loneliness is ageing. We all know that smoking is bad for the health, but feelings of loneliness can be more ageing, new research has suggested. The research team the predicted biological age of thousands of people with their actual age. This revealed an average mismatch of some five years. The research also revealed that smoking added up to 15 months to people’s predicted biological age, whereas feeling lonely, unhappy and hopeless added up to 20 months. Previous studies have found that people who experience severe loneliness tend to have higher levels of inflammation than others; they may also be more anxious, and less active. “Your body and soul are connected and taking care of your psychological health is the greatest contributor that you can have to slowing down your pace of ageing,” said the report’s co-author. The Guardian

7. Women take in the ‘world’s remote job’. Four British women have been selected to run the world's most remote post office and count penguins after beating 6,000 applicants. The women will spend five months working on Goudier Island, Antarctica, where they will live in sub-zero temperatures and without electricity or flushing toilets. Mairi Hilton, who spent the past four years studying a PhD in conservation biology, will monitor the island's 1,500 gentoo penguins. Lucy Bruzzone, who previously spent three months on Svalbard as chief scientist, will be the base's leader. Clare Ballantyne has a master's degree in earth science from Oxford University and is set to deal with approximately 80,000 cards which are mailed from the island to over 100 countries. Natalie Corbet will be running a gift shop. The Independent

8. Environmental sector fails on diversity. The environment sector has been failing to improve inclusivity, research has suggested. A sector-wide survey of 44 environmental charities in 2021, found that while 84% had considered or were taking some steps to increase ethnic diversity, just 4% had consistently implemented an action plan. Meanwhile, only 22% leaders in the sector said that they thought increasing ethnic diversity was currently a priority. In addition, all people of colour surveyed said that there was "overt or covert racism and unconscious bias" in the environment sector. The findings come as other research has found that people of colour in England are three times more likely to live in neighbourhoods with very high levels of pollution. Wildlife and Countryside Link

9. Shoppers to spend less at Xmas. British shoppers are expected to spend £4.4bn less on non-essentials in the run-up to Christmas “due to the cost-of-living crisis”. A study by Retail Economics found that almost 60% of shoppers expect to cut back on non-food spending in the final quarter of the year, when most shops take the majority of their profits. Some 38% of shoppers identified themselves as “distressed” and at a high risk from the soaring cost of living, the researchers found. “Inflation is set to peak at exactly the wrong time for retailers,” said Richard Lim, the chief executive of Retail Economics. iNews

10. The bottom  line. The typical interest rate for a two-year fixed-rate mortgage exceeded 6% for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, signalling done for first-time buyers. The increase will also affect tens of thousands of homeowners who are nearing the end of their current mortgages. BBC