I am enjoying the excellent Tim Harford* and his latest episodes of “More or Less” (see links below), with a focus this week on The Stats of the Nation. On Wednesday he covered Sex, Drugs, (Crime) and Empty Homes. This covered the rather startling revelation that according to Police data (for England and Wales) crime overall has increased 25% over a 10 year period, with violent offences up 85%. But we should celebrate. As, hidden within these concerning metrics is good news;

1) Boxes As we move into 2026, I am looking forward to reading in more detail on how UK Company Boards have been not only been “assessing and monitoring” their culture, but also evaluating how the desired culture has been “embedded” across the organization. For those who have been slumbering and missed it (shame on you) revisions to the UK Corporate Governance Code in 2024 included enhanced culture requirements, re-enforcing it as a core component of corporate governance[

Last night, as dusk descended over Bodmin Moor, I watched one of natures most spectacular phenomena; a mumuration of starlings. Tens of thousands of birds flying together in (seemingly) synchronised, ever-shifting patterns. Scientists have long studied the spectacle, to try and understand both the causes of the behaviour and the flock’s mesmerising coordination. In the 1930s, ornithologist Edmund Selous proposed that starlings might possess telepathic abilities. By the 1980s