"On the Rails" from South China Morning Post

"Experience has taught us that the more frequent response from any administration hosting such a farcical result is to become defensive, dig a trench and take up arms for its own system over any other."

"Dominoes will fall until the euro is split" from South China Morning Post

"Who's next? First Greece went bust. Now Ireland is on the brink of a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund."

"In each country, it will be a different trigger that causes a collapse in financial confidence. The root cause is the same, though. When the euro was launched, it was a big bet that sharing the same currency would make a group of very different economies converge, and so allow the European Central Bank to operate a single monetary policy for all of them.

It was an interesting theory, but it turned out to be wrong. The economies are too different to allow a single central bank to manage all of them.

This crisis will keep moving from country to country. The only permanent fix is splitting up the euro into more manageable currency areas."

"The interception of mail bombs sent by militants from Yemen via FedEx and UPS last month was a dramatic reminder to air passengers that they could be flying with poorly screened cargo." from South China Morning Post

" "The challenge is staying ahead of what the bad guys come up with, trying to be proactive rather than reactive," says Lori Beckman, president of US company Aviation Security Consulting and former director of security at Denver International Airport." 

"It's what Issac Yeffet, former head of security for Israel's hypersecure flag carrier EI AI, calls a "patch on top of a patch" - successively reaching to previous threats with improved technologies in a security race in which the terrorists are always likely to be one step ahead: one lunatic comes up with a particularly wacky idea, and the whole global airport security industry tries to make sure that, if someone else tries exactly the same thing, they're foiled."

"Passenger screening, meanwhile, is moving from simple identification towards complex biometrics - fingerprints, retinal scans and facial pattern recognition."

"It is difficult to measure success - the best result is nothing happening As Lawson puts it: "Given the cost of security technology and implementing it for an airline nowadays, especially when they're running as lean as they are, it's a bit difficult to persuade them to spend a lot of money on something that might happen."

"The events of 9/11, for example, happened not because of a particular screening failure, but because no one had thought of the possibility that terrorists armed with Stanley knives might try to fly planes into buildings. In other words, the issue, as much as security, is imagination."

"The objective is to have an integrated system and seamless supply chain."

"By helping to shorten lead times, speed up order processing, manage inventory and monitor transport, this creates greater transparency and efficiency for all parties involved.

  "We consistently study the whole supply chain and have regular meetings with customers to identify areas to enhance logistics performance," Chung says. "It is not just a question of getting feedback from the big names such as the supermarket groups, but also from general trade customers and smaller retailers."

  She explains that the company has its own internal set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to understand how things stand and what needs further attention. These track standard measures such as in-stock rates, service levels and inventory days. However, they are deliberately designed to reflect customer objectives - not some self-defined targets - and are revamped when necessary to take account of sometimes fast-changing requirements.

  To keep things moving forward, frequent KPI reviews incorporate feedback and suggestions from day-to-day interaction. The mechanism encourage customers to provide comment and input and, where appropriate, is quite open about what the KPIs actually are. This makes for closer co-operation, more fruitful discussions, and progressively higher standards that bring all-round benefits.

  "For us, good logistics performance is all about providing the right product at the right time and in the right quantity to fulfil shopper's needs," Chung says." from South China Morning Post

" "Often, the lead clinician or surgeon does not create a fostering environment and encourage people to speak up," Marshall says." "

" "But through training, you can introduce models and practices, so that staff at every level listen more and are more responsive. It is not theoretical. There are tools and checklists to use straight away and the same fundamental principles apply across platforms and sectors. Once you change the approach, everybody wins."

  For example, he notes that team briefings before operating are relatively new in the health care sector. Meetings can be short, lasting no more than 90 seconds, but ensure everyone understands what needs to be done concerning the patient, procedure and individual tasks." from South China Morning Post