Articles

Do national crises encourage dictatorship?

Written by Professor Gavin Drewry, PAI Workshop Director

Some of you may recognise this as a portrait of Henry VIII, King of England from 1509 to 1547. Henry is remembered for many things, not least for his six wives. The fate of those unhappy women – three of whom were peremptorily divorced and two of whom were executed on trumped up charges – contains the glimmering of a clue as to what this reference to a despotic 16th century English monarch might have to do with 21st century words like ‘dictatorship’, ‘Covid-19’ and ‘Brexit’...read more 

Leadership in the time of Coronavirus

Written by Philip Champness, PAI Workshop Director  

In January Chinese scientists reported a deadly new virus - coronavirus or COVID-19 - that spread from person to person and caused an acute respiratory disease. Of the first 99 cases 17% needed critical care and 11 people died. There was neither a vaccination nor a
cure. The infection spread rapidly. In the past three months the virus has crossed international borders to trigger a global pandemic. Recorded figures, probably an underestimate, revealed a global death toll exceeding 150,000 by mid-April...read more

In search of a single version of the truth

Written by Neil McCallum, PAI Workshop Director

We have until very recently been living in an age which has witnessed the progressive dismissal of the role of facts, the value of statistics and the concept of expertise in favour of confident, increasingly combative assertions of certainty. A UK Government Minister famously said in 2016 ‘The people inn this country have had enough of experts. People talked of a ‘post-truth’ world. One commentator observed that the concept of ‘evidence-based policy making’ was rapidly giving way to ‘policy-based evidence finding.’ This is what we think needs to happen: Now go and find the data to support that plan... read more

Your latest challenge is ………. how to maintain supplies?

Written by Dave Wells, PAI Workshop                       Director 

The global Covid-19 pandemic and the different impacts on Government services and the private sector alike have brought a new focus for professionals from all disciplines. One of the foremost areas affected has been that of procurement.... read more

Reasons to be cheerful:                        An accountant looks beyond Coronavirus

Written by Ken MacNeill, PAI Workshop Director 

Most managers and finance staff will have worked hard to prepare budgets for this or the upcoming financial year. These carefully crafted financial plans are now often ruined because of Coronavirus. Income has often fallen, possibly disappeared, and costs have, in many cases, been incurred in previously unimagined ways. Enough reason for being miserable and cautious, you would think, and accountants often fall naturally into the pessimistic camp, even when times are good. But now is not the time for caution or seeing only the downside of this current crisis... read more