Greece - Day2

"Greece's future hangs on 72 words". Everything now is really hanging on how Greece votes and the wording of the referendum and this is a good overview of the referendum itself and what role the language used might have. Aa they ready for a vote and face issues about getting ballots out and to every voter, Europe warns that a no vote will leave Greece isolated despite Tsipras' faith it will give him greater negotiating power. Furthermore, Greece has confirmed that they will not make their payment tomorrow putting them in arrears and intensifying the crisis.

Turning to the background - where did the bailout money go? This is a fascinating read and illustrates why so many Greeks continue to struggle despite the bailout. And these two pieces argue that Greece need to stop licking their wounds and face up to reality - Europe shouldn't ignore Greek Humiliation according to this article but must face up to the fact the Syriza failed - do you agree with this or have them been crushed by the European Neolibral consensus? Finally a Guardian piece getting the views of 100 Greek people, well worth a read.

Greece and the Euro

Given the drama and the huge importance of what happens to Greece I am going to regularly promote Financial Times and other papers' pieces on the crisis. The situation in Greece has huge implications for the Eurozone and the world and will affect many different areas including the markets, tourism and business so you should be following closely!

Firstly, will Tsipras get his way and have the Eurozone blink first and change their minds? Is it unfair for Tsipras and Syriza to be punished for calling a referendum and allowing the Greek's themselves to decide their fate. Surely not a betrayal of Europe but  Syriza listening to their people's democratic will? Finally the stock exchange and backs are closed in Greece and the Euro is very weak. To round up the FT.com coverage a column arguing we must help Greece even though they have been reckless and their creditors have been short sighted.

Finally a piece in the Guardian on how Greeks are already suffering and why they feel so unable to make further sacrifices in the name of austerity.

Video Spolight - Bill Gates

Heck out this video interview with Bill Gates from the Financial Times.

Microsoft co-founder and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates talks to FT deputy editor John Thornhill about philanthropy, tax, energy and health innovation, and Microsoft’s record. Mr Gates was in London to speak at an FT 125 event. Check out the live FT 125 tweets below.  Don't forget to look at the tweetfeed as well. A great way to share ideas and network.

Weekly round-up

In the US reaction to the Charlston church massacre is impacting on sales of Confederate flag merchandise. The image of the flag has become tainted by association with race hatred. Companies including Walmart, Sears, Amazon, Google and eBay are removing all products and images from their stores and websites. In the music industry a Tumblr post by Taylor Swift has persuaded Apple to rethink the business model for its new Apple Music streaming service. In the original proposal Apple were not going pay musicians and songwriters royalties for music streamed during the free 3 month introductory service. In response to criticism from independent labels and artists such as Swift, Apple has now agreed to pay royalties due during the free trial as well as those generated via the full subscription service.

Grexit, Brexit and many other things.

There are a huge number of stories about the situation in Greece but I have chose this most recent one reflecting on the failure of the bailout talks and looking at where Greece and the EU go from here. This is obviously a crisis with huge and immediate consequences for millions of people, not to mention the possible ripples through tourism, business and the other Euro Zone economies. And while we are on the the EU, here's an article looking at the responses of CEOs to the possibility of Britain leaving the EU. Two semi -related pieces on The Connected Business - first a special report with a collection of articles on digital health and then wearables at work - how intensely might our employers monitor us in the future? Finally a piece on re-branding in the age of Globalisation.

Leadership, Tech News and Luxury

First up for this round up, a piece from Harvard Business Review on Leadership and why it's better to admit your mistakes and learn from them. Then a sobering piece on the slowdown of economic growth in developing nations. Turning now to technology news starting with yet more potential applications for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset -  this time they have teamed up with Microsoft and will be part of new versions of xBoxes.

Turning to technology. a video from the BBC about how future wearables could be controlled by extremely tiny gestures. Two pieces of Apple news; firstly they are launching a new streaming service to compete with Spotify and secondly they are exploring blocking ads for iPhone users using safari, which is good news for phone users but less so for marketing companies. Finally a special report looking at Watches and Jewellery and the luxury market.

Weekly Round-up!

Hope  you are all enjoying the sunny weather that has finally arrived! Starting my round-up of news items that caught my eye is a story about Climate Changes, Corporate Social Responsibility and IKEA - They are going to spend one billion Euros to tackle climate change! This is a great example of how a bit of up-to-date news could really add to a report on a company. This wouldn't be in our company reports yet but obviously is very useful and revealing information. On the other end of the CSR scale - The owner of the Rana Plaza building which collapsed two years ago with a huge loss of life have been charged with murder. Finally a report from the EPA in America has found that Fracking, the controversial method of oil and gas extraction, has little impact on drinking water. This is sure to be a contention verdict as feelings on fracking run very high,as evidenced by the ban on banning fracking passe din Texas this week.

Turning now to the world of finance, Bank reporting is bigger than ever but this argument argues that even excessive reporting is a necessary evil to rebuild trust after the many damaging banking scandals of the last few years - do you agree? This list of the world's most powerful woman entrepreneurs from Forbes makes inspiring reading and this report suggesting a strengthening of British support for European Union is fascinating as we build up to a referendum. Finally research suggests European style long holidays can actually increase productivity - maybe we should all be demanding more annual leave! One way to improve the work life balance...