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    The Great Gordino Newsletter - Issue 262 - Wed 1st Dec 2004
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    Hi There,

    I hope your week is going well.

    So far this week I've been struck by the issue of integrity, so
    that's my subject for today.

    It's been 2 weeks since I lost a whole load of money online,
    when a company went bust having spent lots of money that
    belonged to other people.
    I can't do a lot about it at the moment, while the administration
    process continues.

    In the long run, I expect to get hardly anything back from the
    company, but as of today I have already received 35% of it back.

    'Huh? How?' I hear you ask.

    Ok, I'll tell you (as if I wasn't going to anyway!)

    Although the original company has not operated with integrity at
    all, 2 of its' competitors have sprung into action, and have both
    offered voluntary compensation packages for those affected.

    They have done this for 2 reasons.
    Firstly, and they make no bones about it, they want my
    business, and I will get increased compensation if I deal with
    them more.
    Secondly, they want to show that this way of doing business
    online can be done safely, and that the industry is not *fully*
    inhabited by crooks!

    So, is that good business?
    You betcha!

    I nearly snapped their fingers off to take advantage of the offer,
    and will quite happily deal with them further, and would also
    quite happily recommend them.

    They needn't have offered me quite so much either, so in my
    view they have shown integrity as well as good business.

    This week's next integrity issue is political.
    There is a bit of a hoo-ha here at the moment, because the
    Home Secretary, who has one of the most important jobs in
    government, has been accused of using his position to rush
    through a visa application for the nanny employed by his former
    married lover.

    Hmm.

    His own party are trotting out the line that his private life is not
    connected to his public office.
    Ive never been quite sure of that argument - in my view, if
    someone can act without integrity in their private life, how can we
    trust their integrity in their public job?
    It's an important question, although to be fair all the politcians
    can be as bad as each other in cases like this, and their view
    tends to depend on whether the person concerned belongs to
    their own party or not!

    The 3rd integrity issue concerns a policy being introduced by
    David Blunkett, the afore-mentioned Home Secretary, which
    deals with indentity cards.

    Seeing as a lot of countries will be introducing biometrics (retina
    scans and fingerpirnts) in their visa systems, new passports in
    the UK will have to contain that info, and the government is
    proposing voluntary ID cards within around 4 years, and
    compulsory within around 8 years.

    Needless to say, the civil liberty lobby is up in arms, bleating
    that our privacy will be invaded.
    If you ask me, that's a total load of baloney maloney.

    Identity cards will help with things like illegal immigration, and to
    ensure that people usng our public services are entitled to do so.

    Since the public services are paid for out of my taxes, I *want*
    people who shouldn't be using them stopped!

    As for my privacy, let's be honest, the government can find out
    anything about me today, let alone in 8 years, and anyway, if I
    act wth integrity and honesty, what have I got to worry about?

    Whew, sort-of-rant over with, that's it for today, and here's the
    thought - in a country with so much opportunity, if people can't
    act with integrity, should it be forced on them?

    'Til Friday,
    Health and Happiness,
    Gordon
    email me at gordon@gordonbryan.com - you'll have to copy and paste
    thanks to the idiot online spammers!



    
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