I am writing this in the relief that as a “small-scale blogger” I am exempt from new rules seeking to punish publishers with exemplary damages if they refuse to join an approved regulator, phew! I have always thought that modern political doctrine bases itself on the modus that civilisation is regulation and using a legal framework of any description to regulate a free press (however odious some of its utterings), is the beginning of the end of civilised democracy as we know it and there are several historical precedents for this. The same doctrine has tied our entrepreneurs and businesses up in red tape and poorly considered regulation for years. This must be burnt at the stake of common sense and burnt NOW and is one of my 4 “recipes” for growth that I referred to last week. Politicians talk about this all time but statistically there are no less regulations on the statute book than there were 3 years ago.
One example of this involves the dreaded TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment) which was obviously drafted by lawyers with barely a grain of common sense between them (although when has the legal profession ever been feted for its common sense?) The intention was fair enough but the resulting confusion and inflexibility caused by poor drafting leads in many circumstances to the killing of jobs not their preservation or creation. If for example I buy a business out of administration then technically I have to take ALL the staff on with ALL their rights which means no way can I start with a cost base which ensures profitability. The lack of time to conduct detailed due diligence on these deal makes the risk profile unacceptable. Result: no deal, no jobs saved. How clever is that!?
There are ways to help mitigate the risk of this which I shall discuss in next week’s instalment but the example shows just out of touch our political class have become with the real competitive world of business and why in a microcosm western capitalism is suffering so much and society with it.
Auf wiedersehen (pet)
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