“So what’s your take on this Cancel Culture everyone is talking about?” As always the question put by Ziggy to his mentor Zara, aka Zarathustra postmodern-day prophet of renown, was posed in a manner which appeared innocuous enough. “Who’s this ‘everyone’ you’re talking about?” came back the retort. Did Ziggy detect a tinge of defensiveness… Continue reading Is Any Self-Respecting Statue Safe These Days?
Author: Colin Turfus
Colin Turfus is a quantitative risk manager with 16 years experience in investment banking. He has a PhD in applied mathematics from Cambridge University and has published research in fluid dynamics, astronomy and quantitative finance.
Diversity and the Avoidance of Prejudice
Those who are familiar with the exploits of Zarathustra, postmodern-day prophet of renown will know that it is his wont to drive from time to time to the local village so that the inhabitants might benefit from his sermons on the subject of social justice and the role they, the villagers, played in obstructing it.… Continue reading Diversity and the Avoidance of Prejudice
Can Two Wrongs Make a Right?
“So what do you say, Zara?” Ziggy asked his friend. “Can two wrongs make a right?” The answer came back immediately. “To ask the question is to answer it: of course they can’t.” Ziggy was in good spirits having taken a bit of a pounding from his self-appointed mentor and postmodern-day prophet of renown Zara… Continue reading Can Two Wrongs Make a Right?
Diversity Is the Answer: What’s Your Problem?
Is “diversity” the panacea it is claimed to be for improving company performance and avoiding the dangers of group-think?
The Myth of Progress?
It is a common element of the myths we human beings like to spin around our lives that our circumstances are progressing in a favourable direction, or at least are about to. Even when things are going badly we look for a silver lining in the cloud to encourage ourselves for the future. And we… Continue reading The Myth of Progress?
Is “Woke” the New McCarthyism?
In his 1964 essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, Richard Hofstadter describes the phenomenon of McCarthyism as an example of what he terms the paranoid style and finds it far from being a novel phenomenon but rather a recurrent theme in the history of the United States. He quotes Senator McCarthy from 1951 as… Continue reading Is “Woke” the New McCarthyism?
Working from Home: Opportunity or Threat?
One of the long-term consequences foreseen from the Covid-19 pandemic is that the trend for more people to work from home may continue on the basis that this has certain attractions both for employees (less time and money spent on commuting) and for employers (less expensive office space required). But not all the consequences of… Continue reading Working from Home: Opportunity or Threat?
Wherein Lies Salvation?
One day the great moral counsellor Zarathustra was out for a drive in his Maserati with his friend Ziggy, the rift between them having healed following the recent difference of opinion about Cultural Appropriation. Ziggy, as was his wont when they went for such drives, was musing out loud to see if he could provoke… Continue reading Wherein Lies Salvation?
Precepts for Observing Lockdown
It was now the 100th day of the ordinance of lockdown and Zarathustra, that renowned prophet of postmodernism, was engaged, as was his wont, in deep consideration of the resolution of a troublesome dilemma: whether the demands of the day merited rising from his bed and changing out of his pyjamas. Unable to summon the… Continue reading Precepts for Observing Lockdown
A Woke Critique of Spotify?
One day the great moral counsellor Zarathustra was out for a drive in his Maserati with his friend Ziggy. It may come as a surprise to the reader familiar with his exploits that he had such things (friends I mean, not sports cars). But being a person of great integrity, it was quite possible for… Continue reading A Woke Critique of Spotify?