Exploring what fairness is, why it matters and what we should do to reawaken the sense of fairness
There is good evidence that the level of detail in legal contracts may crowd out moral intentions in relation to the agreements that the contracts represent. And despite the evidence seen in my prior blog on the importance of fairness to the law (see Fairness piercing the veil, and filling gaps in the law), it … Continue reading Contractual crowding out →
An extraordinary legal case was decided in the UK in April, and it has recently been determined that there can be no appeal from it. The court decision has led directly to the insolvency of a major property development group, and it illustrates the way in which fairness fills gaps in the law – indeed … Continue reading Fairness piercing the veil, and filling gaps in the law →
This blogpost follows Squid Game series (season) 3 and while it doesn’t contain specific spoilers it does assume some knowledge of the programme [readers may gather that I’ve been slow to catch its denouement] Fairness lies at the core of the concept of Squid Game, Netflix’s dark Korean drama. The players induced to enter the … Continue reading Squid Game ‘fairness’ II →
We seem to be reminded on a regular basis that there are some individuals in our world who are largely immune from a sense of shame – indeed, any sense of embarrassment. Such people must be deeply painful to spend any time with, because this immunity must be a sign that they lack empathy and … Continue reading Being fair to oneself – and to others →
I write this as I return from my first trip to Australia for a decade. I am reminded that it’s a warm place – not just in terms of climate but also in the matiness of the culture. Fairness plays a key role in this, formally and informally. There is indeed a remarkable amiability to … Continue reading Mateship and the ‘fair go’ →
A merchant ship, carrying a mix of cargo on behalf of different business concerns, gets caught in a storm. It’s a bad one, and the ship, and all hands, are at risk. The captain must act. To save the crew, ship, and the bulk of its cargo, the captain orders that some cargo be thrown … Continue reading Captains of industry →
It’s fair to say that generally banks aren’t well known for the fairness of their approach to pay. So it was interesting to note the emphasis that UBS, now by far Switzerland’s dominant bank following its 2023 rescue of the failing Credit Suisse, places on the issue of fair pay in its latest, recently issued … Continue reading What’s fair pay for a bank? →
Having sent my draft book to my publisher – more news on that when I have it – I can re-devote my fairness writing energies to this blog. One side-effect of the book-writing process, and particularly of the editing process, is that I’ve much material that didn’t make it into the manuscript, at least not … Continue reading Surprising benefits of labour fairness →
A new novel called Fair Play was of course irresistible for this blog – especially when it turned out that the author, debut novelist Louise Hegarty, was speaking at my local bookshop. Fair Play is an intriguing, even odd, blend. It starts as a modern story of a group of friends at a New Year’s … Continue reading Playing fair in detective fiction →
With all the talk about a bubble in investment in so-called ‘AI’*, I have taken a moment to reread the classic on the 1929 Wall Street bubble bursting, US economist John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Great Crash 1929, first published in the 1950s. Speculative market bubbles do come and go. As Galbraith notes, the reason that … Continue reading Bubbles and economic fragilities →