EDITION 751
4 FEBRUARY 2019

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I'd be very grateful if you did.

1. How to eradicate complacency. There is no place for complacency in today's business environment. If your team or organisation becomes fat and happy with success there is a good chance bad times are on the horizon. Complacency or, in other words, comfort with the status quo, can destroy a change initiative. How to identify complacency? [MORE]
    
2. Cabinet secretary and Corbyn call for 2019 election. The Cabinet secretary has ordered civil servants to plan for a June general election to “cement” Theresa May’s position. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn has called for a snap general election so people who have experienced “the brunt of nine years of austerity” can be allowed a new vote. An opinion poll by YouGov puts the Conservatives on 41% to Labour’s 34%. The Observer
    
3. Burnt by the festival that never was. One of many things we’ve learnt from Netflix’s brilliant new documentary [I watched it twice] about the Fyre Festival fraud is how much money “influencers” get paid to post on social media. Influencers have become so powerful, brands are expected to pay them $6.5bn this year. In the UK, the government has warned them that they must make this commercial relationship very clear – or risk fines or jail. The festival’s promoter – one Billy McFarland – is now serving six years for fraud. The Times
    
4. Wearable tech is dangerously inaccurate. Doctors have warned that a growing number of healthy people are visiting GPs because they have wrongly interpreted data from their Fitbits, and other health gadgets, and think they are ill. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges report says that this is putting pressure on the NHS – and could eventually overwhelm it. Daily Telegraph
    
5. A book worth reading. Deserving of the razzmatazz it has generated, Becoming by Michelle Obama chronicles a life that took her from humble origins to the White House. It’s full of insights about US politics and society and reminds us of an admirable First Family. This month, I am reading The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield. Editor
    
6. Challenging times see personal insolvencies rise. Personal insolvencies rose in the fourth quarter of 2018, sending the total number of people going bust last year in England and Wales to the highest level since 2011. Experts said uncertainty over Brexit, weak wages growth and tighter credit rules are to blame. Money Advice Trust said the figures reflected “the challenging times many people continue to face”. Daily Mirror
    
7. Teachers to get cash to stay in schools. Ministers plan to tackle worsening teacher shortages by offering some young secondary school teachers additional £5,000 payments in their third and fifth years in the classroom - on top of initial £20,000 training bursaries. The “early career payment” scheme has already been trialled with maths teachers. BBC
    
8. Northern Forest on its way. Twelve million trees are to be planted across England by 2022 – the equivalent of 18 Sherwood Forests. One million will be planted in towns and cities, and 11 million in rural settings. London will get more plane trees, while Manchester and Birmingham will get more lime, oak and rowan trees. Daily Telegraph
    
9. Don’t take your dog to Iran. Dog-walking has been banned in Tehran, as part of a long-standing official campaign to discourage dog-ownership in the Iranian capital. “We will take measures against people walking dogs in public spaces, such as parks,” said police chief Hossein Rahimi. Driving with a dog in your car is also banned. Dogs are regarded as unclean by the nation’s Islamic leaders, and they also, added Rahimi, cause “fear and anxiety”. Daily Mail
    
10. The bottom line. The price of a “Brexit box” sold by the Emergency Food Storage company is a mere £295. The “survival kits” are to keep you ticking over in the event Britain leaves the European Union without a deal and food becomes scarce (a widely dismissed scenario). It contains food for 30 days and a gel for starting fires. Metro