Here’s some food for thought
LAND ACQUISITIONS
Iceland: http://www.grapevine.is/Features/ReadArticle/China-and-Iceland-Friends-With-Benefits

DAIRY DEVELOPMENT
New Zealand court halts Chinese dairy deal

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/03d0a622-57bf-11e1-ae89-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1uDBrhqPW

New Zealand approves deal for Chinese to buy 16 dairy farms

http://shanghaiist.com/2012/04/23/pengxin-nz-crafar-farms.php

China grows its dairy farms with global cattle drive:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303863404577281302732745814.html

ENVIRONMENTAL RECORD
China’s environmental track record in Africa:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-09/africa-s-new-friend-china-finances-9-3-billion-of-hydropower.html

HUMAN RIGHTS
China’s human rights violations:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/china

PRESS FREEDOM
Al Jazeera’s Beijing bureau closed

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/al-jazeera-beijing-china-bureau-closed-melissa-chan-visa-refused/s2/a549116/

Before we get into bed with the Chinese shouldn’t we be asking about the potential risks?

What do you think?

Writing and speaking are tools for communicating a message. That’s it. Yet so many things – jargon, legalese, academic-speak, overly formal or informal language, too many words, poor grammar and punctuation – get in the way of good communication.

Clear Ink helps financial services, legal, media, health and technology firms, multinationals, government bodies and semi-states sell their products and services to customers using clear English. Our services include:

• Marketing writing  — brochures, letters, reports, newsletters, websites and more
• Editorial content — articles, blogs and clear English guides on any subject
• Editing and  proofreading — all documents: we make your hard work shine
• Writing skills training courses — Business writing in clear English, Think like a journalist  (advanced), Social media marketing on a shoestring (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, GoogleAds and blogs) and more.

To get you started on your clear English journey, here are our top writing tips:

PLAN (figure out who you are, who you’re talking to, what you want to say)
1. Think of the audience. Before you write, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Who are they? What are they interested in? What do they want/ need from you? If you don’t write for the reader by giving them something they need then you’ve lost them… and all your hard work has been wasted.

2. Specify your purpose. Why are you writing? Be as specific as possible. A detailed objective will help you choose your marketing strategy and writing style.

3. Choose a tone of voice. Formal, academic-style business writing is old-fashioned. Think about how you talk to your customers in person. Replicate this conversational style in your writing. It’s a balancing act but try to keep it professional yet friendly.

WRITE (deliver the message)
4. Treat customers with respect. There’s nothing worse than getting a letter or brochure that’s confusing, talks down to you or scolds you. Always use language that is appropriate to both the reader and the subject matter.

5. Get rid of jargon. Although the words and phrases of your profession and firm are familiar to you, it’s unlikely that most readers know your industry’s jargon. Language should not be a secret society handshake or a code to decipher. Writing is about communicating a message, not trying to impress readers with big words.

6. Look for the story. As humans, we relate to stories. That’s how we all learn and absorb information. Marketing writing is storytelling. Take the reader from the beginning to the end. Don’t jump all over the place. Imagine them asking you “So, tell me about yourself. What do you do? What can your company do for me?”

7. Have a sense of humour. Don’t you like to laugh? Well, so do your readers. Serious is boring. Zzzzzzzz. Sometimes a little unexpected, but appropriate, humour leaves a great impression. It shows you are a confident and relaxed professional – with the human touch.

EDIT (be the reader)
8. Cut, cut, cut. Most of us tend to overwrite. We use 20 words when five will do. Only use what you need to relay your message. If you’re having trouble removing information just put yourself in the reader’s shoes – what do they absolutely need to know?

9. Review your audience and purpose. When you edit, you are looking through a reader’s eyes. Does your document answer the reader’s universal question “What’s in it for me?” How do the words make them feel about you and your business? Will they feel called to action by your words – will they pick up the phone, email or buy your product?

10. Think visually. Marketing documents are not just words on a page. They should be a roadmap of easily accessible information. Do you have strong subheadings, topic sentences and “signposts” for the reader? Is it as visually appealing as it could be? There’s nothing worse than block after block of text to put readers off. Add engaging photographs, tables, charts, graphs where possible. Beautifully written and structured documents are a gift to your potential customers and existing clients so make them sparkle.

Need a hand pulling your marketing plan together? Call Mags on 087 2070495 or email Margaret@clearink.ie (By the way, this is our call to action so please DO it now.)

Well, if President Obama’s opinions are anything to go by it’s not much.  Today he told an audience in downtown New York, where Lehman was  headquartered, that:

“Unfortunately, there are some in the financial industry who are misreading this moment. Instead of learning the lessons of Lehman and the crisis from which we are still recovering, they are choosing to ignore them,” he was quoted as saying in the Irish Times. “So I want them to hear my words: We will not go back to the days of reckless behaviour and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis.”

Ah yes, reckless behaviour and unchecked excess. That would mean three things: the outrageous bonus structure, insufficient risk controls and lack of regulation.

Bonus bingo
Let’s start with the bonus structure. Even when I was there (working in marketing so not eligible for big money) it was normal for traders and sales people to have a relatively low base salary and a POTENTIAL bonus that was many, many multiples of that number.

For example, someone who made a 75k base salary knew that if they hit certain targets they could make up to 250k. Each year, the potential for larger bonuses multiplied. Year two it could be 350k or 500k or any “monopoly money” amount.

This was very, very seductive. As incomes rose, most people increased their spending so all those Wall Streeters have an addictive  lifestyle habit to support – private schools and ski holidays for the kids; big suburban houses, flash cars and servants for the spouse; exclusive golf club memberships, holiday homes and designer clothing, cigars and single malt Scotch for them. (Lots of my friends in New York live this lifestyle so I ain’t making it up!)

The point is that it became both very difficult for people to leave the industry - would you leave 500k sitting around for someone else to take? – and almost impossible to keep reaching the new targets. Plus, most of their friends worked at the same thing so the lifestyle – and the conflicts – seemed normal.

Playing risk roulette
When a shopkeeper runs out of things to sell, he needs to get some more. On Wall Street, they simply start to make new stuff up and call them derivatives. These financial instruments are bits of this and bits of that combined to create something new like: asset-backed securtites (See Sub-prime time or Abbatior of Debt story on this blog).

To feed the increasingly voracious market for derivatives, financial product designers went wild and created things that not even a nuclear physicist could decipher. It’s a bit like those mad outfits you see on the catwalk during London Fashion Week…entertaining and outlandish but with no tangible value in the real world.

Because these things were so darned complicated no one was able to assess their REAL risk.

Ropey regulation
Finally we come to the policemen, the gatekeepers, the regulators. They were duped but they were also incredibly lazy. If they did not understand how something was valued it was their JOB to keep asking questions. They failed us in so many ways. (See post on this blog: Toxic tips from D’Oh School of Economics)

So, if we have learned something from the collapse of Lehman Brothers we should see changes to the financial sector such as:
1. Total product transparency with clear description of risks
2. Abolition of bonus structures that reward unrealistic risk taking
3. Proper regulation of financial markets
4. Regulators who have the ability to understand – or demand explanations for – the products they are regulating

Don’t hold your breath!

[field name=video]

Read Erin go broke here.

You can view the segment here.

Our lovely interviewer Noel said we’d just have a nice discussion but
it quickly turned into a row. I suggested that the government’s
inaction was a dangerous decision and that it had far reaching
consequences. “Nero fiddled while Rome burned and so is this
government. ” Paraphrasing it I basically said this was
an emergency and that we were at war for our economic survial. It was
time for unity. The time for party politics is over. We all need to
come together, start talking to the social partners and make cuts
across the board. Why isn’t the Financial Regulator organisation in the dustbin? All senior bank management still not gone?

People are frightened – they’re losing their jobs, emigrating, huge
numbers of small businesses are failing with banks refusing to make
loans…They need some hope.” I asked him loads of questions and asked
him what they were doing about it. Why weren’t they asking for help
from the extraordinarily intelligent experts we have in this country?  Why weren’t they communicating a plan to the people?

He was furious and completely disagreed that people were losing their
jobs in large numbers and emigrating to find work. Some of this was cut from the programme including his statement that  ”My daughter is
going to Australia for the experience” She was not forced to emigrate.
(One of the lucky few, I imagine who can afford that kind of trip!)

I then pointed out that it was ridiculous that according to
Wednesday’s papers a bank (that we have now recapitalised) refused to
give a €3,000 loan to a business – with a substantial amount of cash
behind it – to save a dozen or more jobs. He implied that many of the
small businesses going out of business are not worth saving. (Wow!!!!!
The lifeblood of this country is not worth saving?). Check out the stats on insolvencyjournal.ie. Things are getting much,much worse but it’s not being reported.

Apparently, I was also a “populist” and he could not believe that the
Irish Times employed someone with views like mine! When did populism – listening to the people – become a dirty word in Fianna Fail?

I do not think Mr Mansergh – who is a highly intelligent person with
an excellent track record on the North – likes to be questioned about
anything. In my experience, he is an elitist who lives in a rarefied
world. He does not think citizens should have a voice or that
journalists have a right to ask hard questions and expect answers. He
also way out of his depth in finance and seems to have little
understanding of the economic issues we now face. Does this frighten
you? It sure as hell frightens me.. who is running the country?

At the end of the interview, he stormed off the set knocking over his
water saying he could not believe I worked for the Irish Times. For
more fun from this week’s experience see the post Students’ advice for the
government.

If you are not extremely angry about what is going on then you should be. Ireland will be bankrupt in about 12 months. We are burning through about €1 billion or so a week. Internationally, Ireland Inc. is viewed as corrupt country where cronyism is rife and that’s accurate. Are you happy with that reputation? I’m not. It’s embarrassing. We ALL have to inform ourselves about the FACTS and then take action – quickly.