Let's just tell it as it is

Oct 7 2003 By Bill Midgley, The Journal

At last it's official, or so one report says, and men all over the world will be able to heave a great sigh of relief.

Men cannot recognise dust, nor, it would appear, the untidiness that is often around them, particularly in their home environment.

Perhaps certain wives and partners may have rather a different view to this, but I for one now have a ready-made excuse.

But if we cannot recognise dust, why stop there?

The statement in question is Orwellian in what it says. But it does open up a whole host of areas that are of great use to businesses, politicians and consultants, and probably much further afield than that.

It is probably more about deluding ourselves or only wanting to see that which we prefer to see.

Unfortunately, telling it as it is still remains a priority within business, as does recognising the challenges.

There has been a pleasing upturn in productivity in the service sector in recent months. And perhaps there are some real grass shoots showing in parts of the manufacturing sector as well, which has to be a real cause for optimism.

We should not, however, delude ourselves. The fact is our industries still have some way to go, and that much growth is based upon borrowed money.

In theory there is nothing wrong with that. Borrowing out of a recession or a low growth economy has proved many times to be extremely successful and has been the start of a boom period.

However, that needs to be tempered with the fact that all such borrowing has to be repaid.

Whereas over the last 30-40 years much of that repayment has been in depreciated money as a result of inflation, there are no signs that there is any great inflationary trend within our economy.

Certainly not to the figures that we saw through the early 1970s to the early 1990s.

However, any upward trend needs to be encouraged, and recognition that there is an improvement often spurs other businesses to invest and build up their own confidence. Perhaps a brighter end to the year that at one time seemed possible.

In the meantime I shall continue to use every excuse I can and claim that I now have a valid reason for not recognising dust.

I am uncertain whether this will be acceptable in certain quarters. My wife, for one, will tell it exactly how it is; just as I hope will others.