EDITION 726
13 AUGUST 2018
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.
- How to stop being busy. We're all too busy - and we're proud of it. We want to do it all, have it all, and achieve it all. It's no wonder we backdoor brag about being swamped: it's code for being successful and important. But in the long run, all this motion leads to burnout. The antidote is to pursue less: design your life around what is essential and eliminate everything else. Disciplined prioritising can leave you with work-free weekends, more thinking time, and time with friends. [MORE]
- Nearly 10,000 police have second jobs. The Police Federation of England and Wales say officers are “struggling” financially, to the extent that nearly 10,000 have taken on a second job within the past year. There have been reports of officers working as taxi drivers, plumbers, gardeners, photographers and beauticians. The Federation says pay is down 18% in real terms since 2009-2010. The Guardian
- New study says most constituencies now back Remain. More than 100 constituencies that voted to leave the EU have switched their support to Remain, according to new analysis. After modelling two YouGov polls of more than 15,000 people, the study concluded that most seats now contain a majority of voters who want to stay in the European Union. Among them is Uxbridge and South Ruislip – the seat of Boris Johnson. The Observer
- A fifth of youngsters spend seven hours a day online. Almost one-fifth of people aged 16 to 24 spend more than seven hours a day glued to their smartphones, new Ofcom data reveals. The study found that people in that age bracket are twice as likely to be online for what is equivalent to over two full 24-hour days a week. In contrast, just 1% of over 65s and only 6% of 55-64 year olds spend over 50 hours a week online. Daily Telegraph
- Life expectancy falls by more than a year. People in post-industrial towns and isolated rural areas are dying younger while longevity is rising in London and parts of the southeast, according to the first detailed analysis of national data. Economic stagnation and cuts to services such as social care are among theories suggested for consistent falls in life expectancy over half a decade in dozens of local authority areas. The Times
- Nice work if you can get it. Britain’s new high-speed railway HS2 paid 318 officials (24% of the total workforce) salaries of at least £100,000 last year, up from 155 in 2015-2016. In total, 112 staff earned more than £150,000, with 15 topping £251,000. HS2 Ltd, the taxpayer-owned firm behind the project, also spent more than £600m on consultants such as architects and engineers, more than double the figure a year earlier. Daily Mirror
- On course for Hothouse Earth? A study by the National Academy of Sciences says that reducing the rise in global average temperatures to below 2ºC, the goal of the 2015 Paris agreement, may not be enough to prevent an array of feedback mechanisms – from permafrost thaw to Amazon rainforest dieback – from releasing more carbon into the atmosphere. It would seem the earth may be on an unstoppable trajectory towards a “hothouse” climate that will see 200ft sea-level rises and render huge swathes of the planet uninhabitable. The Times
- Top universities are struggling to fill courses. Russell Group universities are struggling to fill places through clearing, new data shows. Following the lifting of the cap on student numbers, 4,000 courses still have vacancies at 18 out of 24 of the country’s leading institutions, ahead of A-level results day on Thursday. Even high-demand courses such as Law, Engineering, English Literature and History are still available at Russell Group universities. Daily Telegraph
- Virgin awarded nearly £2bn in NHS contracts. Richard Branson’s Virgin has “quietly become one of the UK’s leading healthcare providers” in the past five years The company has been awarded almost £2bn worth of NHS contracts, more than any other private firm. Virgin and subsidiaries now provide healthcare in prisons, dementia care and school vaccinations. The Guardian
- The bottom line. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s new annual security allowance is now $10m. The award is up 25% from last year due to “specific threats” he has received and will pay for more bodyguards, improved security at his homes and the use of private aircraft. Business Insider
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